


The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together

by Crowdog



Series: Acquiring A Family The Hard Way [1]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Apritello - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Injury Recovery, Leorai - Freeform, Major Character Injury, Not Canon Compliant, Permanent Injury, Romance Fix-it, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Slow Burn, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-14 07:40:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 112,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14131329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowdog/pseuds/Crowdog
Summary: The Krang have New York, The Shredder wants her captured, and the people she once tried to kill are now her friends and family. Living with the turtles and their friends at the farmhouse has given Karai a taste of the life she’s secretly always wanted. Now she just has to find a way to not mess it up.Too bad she’s an expert at that.(Karai-centric. Canon-divergent: Karai goes to the farmhouse after the invasion instead of hiding in the city).





	1. PROLOGUE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The weirdest of friendships.

* * *

 ~o~ After S1E20: “Enemy of My Enemy” ~o~

* * *

This was the last thing she had expected of Leo, but somehow it was also something he would do. Karai kept her eyes closed, hugged her pillow tightly to her chest and fought the urge to move any of her muscles. Maybe Leo thought he was being a ninja, sneaking into her fucking bedroom after betraying her at the docks earlier that day.

 

She was furious at him, and his brothers. Yet here he was, fearlessly sneaking into her room.

 

“Karai?” Leo whispered at a barely audible volume. The room is blanketed in darkness, but the blinds are open letting the street light from outside cast some light into the room. Karai cracked her eyes open slightly, she can see his form against the darkness.

 

_Get the fuck out of here._

 

“Karai?” Leo whispered again but this time he took a step closer to the bed.

 

“Get the fuck out of here, Leo.” Karai said, forgoing any attempt at whispering. What did she care if she woke someone up and they so happen to find him. It would serve him right.

 

Leo stayed silent for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing “Karai-” the dork was playing with his fingers nervously “-I’m so sorry about this evening….I…” it sounded like his throat was closing. Karai didn’t move, she grabbed the covers and pulled them over her more causing Leo to flinch. Fighting back that ingrained response to draw his weapon. _Relax freak, I couldn’t fight you if I wanted to._

 

Karai hated him. She hated him because he was there asking for her forgiveness after the shit she had just gone through. _Do have any idea how mad my father was?_

 

"I'm so sorry Ka-"

 

“Oh, you’re sorry you failed to kill my dad with a missile launcher?” Karai snapped.

 

“I-”

 

“Well you can fuck off you freak” Karai sat up in her bed, winced, still sore and raw “how dare you come in here and try to apologize for this!”

 

“Shhh, Karai look I wasn’t thinking-”

 

“Don’t you fucking shush me!” she glared for a moment “Oh and you were thinking, you were thinking I gave you an opportunity to kill Shredder without realizing it!” Karai snarled bringing her voice down to a harsh whisper “I should have stolen that missile launcher myself! I knew I couldn’t trust you!”

 

Leo stayed silent. In that silence she became aware of how hard she was breathing.

 

“Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. My. Room.” Karai swung her legs off the side of her bed and reached over for the lamp on her nightstand. Light flooded the room in a warm glow.

 

“Karai, had I known he was your dad-” Leo began softly, blinking his eyes against the light but Karai cut him off.

 

“Oh you wouldn’t have tried to kill him? Right. And I should believe that why?” she stared at him and he looks down, he was still playing with his fingers. “Whatever Leo, get out of here, go crawl back down whatever shit hole you came from.”

 

She got up and pulled her nightgown down so she’s decent.

 

“Karai-”

 

“What part of get the f-”

 

“-you’re bleeding Karai!” Leo said urgently pointing to her bed.

 

Karai felt her face heat up. “Shit, look Leo go home” she bundled the slack of her night gown in between her legs and walked past Leo into the bathroom. He watched her the whole way with concern painted on his face.

 

“Are you okay?” Leo asked as she closes the door. She didn’t respond to him, she hoped if she ignored him he’d fuck off.

 

She gingerly removed her now soiled nightgown and gently removed her panties. _Fuck there was a lot of blood this time._ The Shredder, her father, had been very angry with her though. She examined her thighs, the bruises were now only a few hours old, they were purple and tender to the touch. The blood is dry and brown, she put a pad in a fresh pair of underwear and grabbed a long t-shirt to replace her nightgown. Looking in the mirror her neck had a nasty hickey on one side and a bruise from the Shredder’s hand on the other. She wanted to punch the mirror. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before leaving the bathroom. _Mistakes have consequences_ _._ _Mistakes have consequences._

 

She runs smack into a shell but regained her balance before falling over.

 

“Were you fucking listening at the door you freak?” she snapped and Leo backed off immediately.

 

“You didn’t respond, I was-”

 

“Whatever” she pushed past him and started walking towards her bed “Look Leo, I’m tired, can you get the fuck out now?”

 

Leo chose to squint at her instead. “Why are you bleeding?”

 

“None of your business” Karai huffed, she sat on the side of her bed and looked out the window. _Leave, for fuck sake leave_. She felt her throat tighten a little. What she’d give to crawl under the covers and never come back out.

 

Leo stood there, squinting. His eyes boring into her skulls with an uncalled for amount of intensity.

 

Karai rolled her eyes “Fucking stubborn aren’t you? I’m in my period. Okay? Happy now?”

 

“Then why do you have all those bruises?”

 

“Geez, what the fuck is this? Twenty questions?” Karai asked almost laughing “Why the hell do you care? Get out, leave me alone already!” She pulled the covers back and settled back into her bed, she felt the moist mess of her own blood and moaned. _Forgot about that, oh well._

 

“What happened to your neck?” Leo asked, unrelenting with his invasive inquiries.

 

“Why do you keep asking me questions?”

 

“You already hate my guts so why not?”

 

“Alright” Karai sighed in defeat “You got me there.”

 

“If you hate me so much why haven’t you attacked me?”

 

Karai shrugged “I’m tired”. _And sore, and I want to take a shower for three hours._ “I’m going to sleep now freak, no more questions” she reached over and flicked off the light. _There, now he’ll have to leave._

 

He didn’t leave because if he did something in her life would be going her way and the universe simply cannot allow that.

 

She didn’t hear any movement though. “You want to talk about it?” his voice asked softly. Karai’s heart lurched.

 

“Talk about what? How annoying you are?” Karai replied trying to keep her voice steady. Ignoring the tightness.

 

Leo walked towards Karai’s vanity pulling out the stool and sitting on it. “Who was it?”

 

“Mother nature did this to me, Leo. Did your rat daddy not teach you anything about girls?”

 

She couldn’t see his face in the dark but he was looking at her, she could feel it. “Well actually my brother Donnie gave us the talk...when he was nine, our dad wasn’t too happy about that.”

 

Karai snickered “Nine? Geez.”

 

“Yeah, and he used it against us too, if we ever started annoying him he’d start rattling off textbook definitions for various parts of child birth until we’d run away from him covering our ears” she could hear the smile on his face. It came through in his voice.

 

“I think I’d have the same reaction if he did that during a fight” she admitted, adjusting herself under the covers.

 

“Yeah, he’s an odd one” Leo sighed “but he makes sure we aren’t idiots. For example, i know you’re lying to cover up what your dad did to you”

 

She clenched her jaw instead of responding.

 

“Come on Karai, my brothers and I fight crime every night, do you know how many rapist we scare the poop out of?”

 

“I’m just in my period” she tried to says confidently but her throat is too tight and it came out strained.

 

She heard him roll his eyes, or she was projecting. “Yeah okay, so what part of menstruation involves bruises all over your inner thighs?”

 

“He was just mad is all” she blurted out in his defense before realizing she just admitted to Leo’s claims. “This isn’t any of your fucking business, Leo” tears streamed down her face, she hoped turtles weren’t able to see in the dark. _Please just leave._

 

“Are you trying to make excuses” he asked, shocked almost “you’re really going to make excuses for why your father is raping you?”

 

Karai inhaled shakily “I know” her words came out in a broken sob. “That’s messed up right?”.

 

“Karai…”

 

“He was, he was mad about what happened at the dock-” Karai stopped mid sentence. She didn’t want to do this right now. “Leo, go home, please.”

 

There was silence. “Do you really want me to go?” he asked gently, because much to Karai’s frustration Leo had this soft gentle side of him. She hated it. Especially when she desperately needed to hate him.

 

“No” she admitted, almost regretting it the second she said it because what the hell was she thinking.

 

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

 

“No”

 

“What do you want to talk about?”

 

Karai stayed silent. She took a few calming breaths before responding “anything but this” she whispered.

 

“Okay” Leo whispered back and he got up from the stool and walked over to her bed, he sat down on the floor next to her bed and propped his shell up against it so his back was to her. Karai was lying on her side facing the back of him. She scootched to the edge of the bed and dropped her left arm down in front of him, over his left shoulder. Wordlessly he grabbed her hand with his right and held it. “I’m going to tell you about the time Raph got his head stuck in a chair.” he whispered squeezing her hand.

 

“Okay”

 

“We were all six, and we had never had kitchen chairs before, but our dad had recently spotted some at the dump and…”

 

Leo talked to her for hours that night.

 

Part of her forgave him just a little for trying to kill her dad.

 

* * *

 ~o~ During S2E08: “The Good, The Bad, and Casey Jones” ~o~

* * *

“Whatcha sulking about Blue?” Karai sprung out at Leo causing him to jump.

 

His face was red, embarrassed from being taken off guard “I’m not sulking” he put sulking in air quotes, so he was definitely sulking. “And Blue?”

 

“That’s the nickname I am giving you” she said airily.

 

Leo crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow “So Blue is what you came up with? Real original, Karai”.

 

“Hey, better than freak, right?”

 

“Maybe”

 

“So, why the sulking, come on spill the turtle beans what has the mighty leader out on a roof in broad daylight all alone?” Karai teased while circling around him.

 

“Maybe it’s none of your business.” Leo teased back. “Also turtle beans, what are-”

 

“Don’t change the subject, what did Raph do this time?”

 

Leo blew air out of his mouth “Pfff, what makes you think it was Raph?” he laughed nervously “why would you think that?”

 

“I didn’t, it was a guess, but your response confirms it” Karai smiled adding “you’re a pretty shitty liar Blue.”

 

“Yeah well you’re a...uh” he put his finger to his mouth in though “you’re uh...pretty....”

 

Karai snorted before she could stop herself “Uh...thanks?”

 

Leo’s face turned red “No! I mean, I was trying to insult you!”

 

“So I’m not pretty then?” Karai asked with a fake hurt in her voice, she was enjoying this far too much.

 

“No! I mean yes, yes you are pretty. But I wasn’t calling you- stop laughing at me!”

 

Karai continued wheezing. _Your face is hysterical_. “Oh hey your face is so red, you could be Raph” she informed him while holding her sides.

 

Leo frowned “You think you’re funny don’t you?”

 

“No” Karai wiped a tear from her eye “I know I’m funny”

 

“Whatever, look I have a lot of sulking” he put sulking in air quotes again “to do so unless you are here to fight me, then I should get going”.

 

“What? No, no, I need to know now, what did Raph do this time?”

 

Leo scratched the back of his neck “He knocked me out during training, well after actually.”

 

“You okay?” she asked. "Not that I care" she amended.

 

Leo rolled his eyes and waved her off. “Yeah. Just he let his anger get the better of him then he stormed off” Leo sighed. “And I’m worried”.

 

“Wait, hold the phone Blue” Karai held her hands up “he knocks you out, has a bitch fit, runs away, and you’re worried about him?”

 

“He’s my brother... so yeah.”

 

“You want me to beat him up for you?” Karai asked jokingly. She was one hundred percent serious though.

 

Leo stroked an imaginary beard and looked down in exaggerated thought. “Tempting offer, but I’ll have to decline”.

 

“Aww, you’re no fun.” Karai complained.

 

“No, and I mean it, he’d beat me up for real if he knew how often we talk.” Leo added more seriously.

 

Karai rolled her eyes “Fine, scouts honor I won’t beat up Raph”.

 

“Pretty sure saying scouts honor, when you are not a scout, means nothing”

 

Karai frowned, looking at him with confused innocent eyes. “That’s why I said it.”

 

Leo groaned.

 

* * *

  ~o~ After: S2E10: “Fungus Humungous” ~o~

* * *

“And then when I exposed it to sunlight the fungus shriveled up and died.” Leo had been talking about this fungus mutation him and his brothers had been fighting earlier that week.

 

Karai swallowed her noodles “That’s fucking badass”

 

“Thank you.” Leo responded politely.

 

Karai didn’t know when this became normal, sitting on top of a water tower with take out after they fought each other for appearances. “You think the clan members tailing me got any sweet pictures of our fight?”

 

“I hope. Although I hope they didn’t take a picture during that sneeze” Leo grimaced “I bet my face looked funny.”

 

“It did.” Karai added, loading her chopsticks with more noodles “I was there, I can confirm it was funny.”

 

“If they did, you’ll delete it for me right?” Leo asked playfully.

 

Karai smiled wickedly at him “Of course!”

 

“Thank-”

 

“After I make a copy for myself.” she finished.

 

“Hey!”

 

“Oh come on, you should of seen that coming Blue” Karai retorted. “So how many more mutagen containers are out there?”

 

Leo shrugged “A lot, Donnie knows the exact number” Leo stirred his noodles. “Hey Karai, can i talked to you about something serious?”

 

“Uh oh, I know that tone”

 

“What tone?” Leo scowled.

 

“The I’m about to start some shit about your dad tone” Karai deadpanned. “Look Leo, I’m not running away in the sewers with you.”

 

Leo’s cheeks flushed. “Okay, looking back I could have suggested that more tactfully, but my offer still stands!”

 

“You run that by your brothers?” Karai squinted her eyes at him questioningly. She already knows the answer but it’s fun to watch him squirm.

 

“Not exactly…”

 

“Yeah, I don’t think they’d like having the Shredder’s fucking daughter as their new house guest.”

 

Leo scrunched his face up “You could grow on them”.

 

“I’m pretty sure Raph hates me.”

 

“Which is funny because you and Raph have a lot in common.”

 

“You’re messing with me” Karai said in disbelief. “That ass-face and I are nothing alike”.

 

“You have colorful names for each other, for one.” Leo remarked.

 

“That’s not something people tend to bond over.”

 

“You both swear a lot”

 

“Also not something people tend to bond over”

 

Leo sulked for a minute, eating his noodles. “Oh, you both enjoy pointing out when I am wrong.”

 

“Okay, that’s better, but not great”.

 

“See, I knew I’d find something.” Leo smiled at her and it’s a goofy smile. The kind of contagious smile that made her smile back without realizing it.

 

“Okay that still leaves two other brothers.” Karai reminded him.

 

“Well Donnie would like you because you wouldn’t hit on April”

 

She nodded begrudgingly. “Why do I feel like there is a story behind that?”

 

“It’s long, but we have this...other human friend, and he hits on April alot-”

 

“Is it Casey Jones” Karai interrupted.

 

“Pfff, no, what, Casey Jones? Who’s that” Leo coughed into his fist.

 

Karai rolled her eyes “You couldn’t lie to save your life, Blue”

 

“Oh you and Raph also could bond over that!”

 

“What? How bad of a liar you are?”

 

“Yeah!”

 

Karai smiled at him, and he smiles back “Okay smart-ass, that leaves Mikey.”

 

“Mikey, he’d just enjoy the idea of having a new person to prank” Leo chewed his noodles slowly then added “Do you like being hugged. You might be able to hug yourself into his good graces”.

 

They both laugh. Karai doesn’t want this moment to end, she wants to talk about the future that could never be until day break. She didn’t want to go home.

 

“But hey” Leo continued on the conversation “I’m serious, if you really wanted to, we’d take you in.”

 

Karai sighed “I know Blue, and for what it’s worth, thank you.” she paused “you know if I ever do meet them, I’m going to know a lot more about them than they do about me.”

 

“Yeah, i guess, but if I told them stuff about you they’d know how often we talk” Leo said while putting his chopsticks into his takeout box. He threw it in a dumpster five stories below. Smiling when it landed right in the middle. “Ha, beat that, didn’t even hit the edge.”

 

“Alright, alright” Karai said rising to the challenge. She puts her chopsticks in her box and closed the lid “You go under hand like a pussy, or over hand like a man?”

 

“What kind of question in that?" Leo laughed "I went under hand”.

 

Karai smirked and threw hers over hand “Well time to separate the men from the-” she missed completely her takeout box of half finished noodles smacking an innocent man carrying a load of groceries. “-fuck, let’s get out of here.” The man began screaming obscenities into the night air.

 

They both jump off the water tower, Leo was laughing at Karai’s reddening face “What was that about separating the men from the boys?”

 

She flipped him off, he stuck his tongue out at her.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In light of the Kraang Invasion Karai retreats into the sewers hoping to avoid trouble. Instead she finds it.

* * *

 December 17th, 2013 | 2:00 pm

* * *

Teenage girls struggle with an abundance of issues. Such as dating boys, or why their best friend no longer talks to them. _I get to mourn the fact that I can never wear pants again._

 

After her mutation, Karai was scared, and really confused. She vaguely remembered nearly killing her father, the real one who is a mutant rat before literally slithering away. _My days of walking are behind me, poetic right?_ She had spent weeks hiding afterwards. The snake part of her despised the city. The noises, the vibrations, the ridiculous amount of broken glass she would accidentally glide over.

 

Most disconcerting was from the naval up Karai was a perfect human specimen. Her eyes were now a bright green with a vertical slit pupil. Other than her creepy looking eyes she looked exactly the same. But right where her belly button was, now marked the line where her human skin transitioned into white scales. To make matters worse, her lower half nearly tripled in length. She estimated if she stretched herself out she would be nearly fifteen feet from head to the tip of her tail.

 

She was absolutely disgusted with herself.

 

The first time she touched the area that would have been the top of her lower thigh, she nearly wretched. The belly side of her snake body had a smoother finish, it felt very similar to the skin the turtles had. Soft like flesh, but a silky reptilian scale texture. The cherry on top of her shit sandwich.

 

Along with her failing journey into self-love, Karai knew Shredder’s goons were still pursuing her. Tiger Claw was able to get close, being a partially mutated tiger his hunting abilities as an apex predator made him a threat. He was also completely silent.

 

Shredder’s goons helped Karai find a way to at least tolerate her mutation. In some ways it made her harder to fight.

 

Tiger Claw taught her that she now had extremely fined tuned instincts. Her body noticed his presence before she consciously did, and she slithered away from the wrath of a net shooter just in time.

 

Bradford, being a dumb dog, decided to chase her once. She’d effortless slithered up a fire escape onto a roof and into a vent before he’d even touched the side of the building. Though what really got her out of that jam was the fact that Bradford was too touched in the head to realized Karai could now get into very small places.

 

Fishface, decided to fight Karai in his element: water. Which is how she discovered she was great at swimming, and because she could swim only using her snake half, she had full use of her arms to fight. Not to mention that she was at least three times bigger than him.

 

As weeks droned on, she continued to avoid the turtles, and her real father. She didn’t want to face them, not after she foolishly faced Shredder alone, got captured, got mutated, almost killed her real father, and ran away. _I’m a mess, and they know it._

 

The Kraang Invasion fascinated Karai. The portals opening up, the army of aliens coming through. _Was that a giant Kraang?_ Though her gut screamed at the loud noises, the chaos and the sirens. It became uncomfortable to the point that she relented and slithered down the nearest manhole. Allowing her snake instincts to burrow deep underground where it was safe.

 

_Did the turtles go into the sewers for this reason? Was it an instinct they had?_

 

There was a little guilt in her mind as she used her tail to whomp a sewer rat to death. _Broken spine, what a way to go_. She hoped her real father wasn’t attached to his rodent roots, because she was extremely hungry. She only got hungry about once a week, and when she did it was insatiable. She had a small backpack on her at all times. In it were a few things she needed. A few different shirts, matches, a sharpening stone for her weapons, about five grand in cash that she had lifted of the inside of Fishface’s van.

 

After her meal of three sizable rats, Karai started working her way to the lair. She was far away, but she remembered how she left the lair a month ago to get mutated. She was more than capable of retracing her steps. When Karai did make it to somewhere vaguely familiar her excitement was ruined by finding Splinter face down in stagnant water.

 

Circling around him, she flipped him over and propped him up against her. Immediately he began coughing and Karai could hear a soft heart beat.

 

“Dad?” Karai croaked, her voice raw from not talking for nearly a week.

 

Splinter didn’t respond, he continued to breathe raggedly. Karai then noticed he was shivering. _It’s December, he’s a mammal, he’s soaking wet._

 

She dragged him up to a dry ledge and took off her bag. _I’ll start you a small fire, then I’ll get the turtles_ . Karai’s gut twisted. Her snake side was having a hissy fit over the situation. She listened intently, a few tunnels over she could hear the vibration of Kraang Droids. _Fuck me._ Karai acted quickly. She placed her backpack next to Splinter and unsheathed her Wakizashi.

 

Ears honed specifically on a group of small Kraang Droids nearest her location, Karai silently glided down a tunnel parallel to them. As an intersection came up, Karai slithered quickly into the Kraang Droids, slicing two Droids in half with her Wakizashi. Chaotic beeps and chirps erupted as they spotted Karai. Using her long muscular tail she effortlessly smacked a third Droid into the wall. The fourth and fifth Droid were shooting now, having gathered their bearings. Dodging the first two shots, she weaved in between them, sinking her blade into the temple of the fourth Droid and wrapping her body around the fifth. She squeezed the Droid until a now traumatized Kraang ejected itself from the chassis and clambered down the sewer tunnel.

 

Karai listened for a few minutes before turning back to where she had stowed away Splinter.

 

“Dad? You’re awake?” it was the first thing she said when she returned. Her father was sitting, or squatting. He was sitting like a rat, and he was bathing himself. Licking his paw and rubbing it over his ear. Karai felt bad again, like she was in danger. She wanted to slither away. “D-Dad” she tried again.

 

This time Splinter looked up, and hissed. Karai’s heart jumped and she dodged Splinter as he pounced at her, teeth bared and claws extended.

 

When he missed he continued running, on all fours down the tunnel. Karai snatched up her backpack and slithered after him. Splinter effortlessly ran over the carnage of Krang Droids Karai had recently dispatched. _Shit he’s fast._

 

When Splinter unintentionally trapped himself in a dead end, a large circular room with no exits Karai thought the pursuit was over. To her horror she watched as Splinter lept from the ground up into a large pipe she hadn’t even considered a viable option. It had to be twenty feet off the floor of the sewer. When Karai got under the pipe he was already forty feet up, climbing the walls effortlessly. Cursing Karai tried to stretch herself as high as possible by coiling her snake body into a circle under her and then moving up. As the coil became smaller, and she became taller the muscles in her tail burned. She felt herself shake, only managing to get herself ten feet away from the pipe, she flopped over onto the sewer floor. _Fuck you gravity._

 

Karai circled the room a few times, seething, cursing. _Something is wrong with Splinter. Really wrong._ She had to find the turtles. The original plan to go to the lair resurfaced. Only to be squashed by the fact that if Splinter wasn’t in the lair, and the Kraang are scouring the sewers it meant the integrity of their home was gone. The lair would be riddled with Kraang Droids at the very least.

 

Hitching her bag further over her shoulder she slithered away from the pipe and headed towards somewhere else. _The one time I actually want to find them, and they’re fucking gone._

 

* * *

December 17th, 2013 | 5:45 pm

* * *

 Later that night Karai had found a nicer place to burrow than the sewers. A basement of an old lady’s house. The occupant was gone, in fact Karai had watched her be manhandled out of her home by a small army of Droids. Karai didn’t dare help, the old lady had a sawed off shotgun and comically bad aim, managing to shoot a streetlamp and a tire on a parked car by the time the Kraang wrestled the gun away.

 

“No no no, who will feed Mr. Tubbs!? Unhand me! Mr. Tubbs!” The old lady was then thrown into the pod. She pounded on the glass as it flew away Karai couldn’t read lips but she didn’t need to. The old lady was probably still screaming about her cat. _Pets, more like a damn burden. All that screaming for a stupid fucking cat_.

 

At first Karai entered the house in hopes of finding old lady money stuffed under the mattress. Movies lied to her, nothing of value was found under the mattress. As she slithered into the living room she hear the rustling of leaves. She quickly sank low to the ground listening intently for the threat to make more noise.

 

Out of the corner of her eye she now saw where the noise was coming from. A large tank sat on a table. Inside was a densely decorated enclosure with bark slabs, clean bedding and a functioning water fountain. In front of the well loved tank was a name placard, a legitimate one made out of wood and metal. The one Karai would expect to see in an office, not in front of a tank. On it said “Mr. Tubbs”.

 

Mr. Tubbs was not a cat.

 

Karai’s curiosity got the better of her as she looked intently through the glass. _What kind of pet lives in a tank this big...and is named Mr. Fucking Tubbs?_

 

Finally she spotted part of Mr. Tubbs, enough for Karai to distinguish Mr. Tubbs was a large snake of some form. A patch of dark grey scales could be seen through a gap in some leaves. It was enough for Karai to feel a connection to her snake roots, she lifted the screen on top of the tank and whispered into the enclosure “Be free Mr. Tubbs.” knowing first hand how sensitive snakes were to sound.

 

Karai finished her sweep of the upstairs, and then proceeded to the basement of the cluttered house. The basement was nicer Karai decided. It had an old king sized bed with a few boxes on it, the bed looked to be untouched. She moved the boxes and placed her bag on the bed. The basement was full of boxes, and dust. Karai rummaged around, she found a box of old clothes belonging to what Karai imagined was the old ladies daughter. Karai stole a few shirts as her’s were ripped and torn from fighting and generally moving.

 

Laying on top of the bed Karai slept on her stomach. The bed was dusty, the mattress was shit, but she had been sleeping on pavement for over a month. This was heaven. As she drifted off she heard a thump from upstairs and slithering. _Enjoy your freedom Mr. Tubbs._

 

* * *

 December 18th, 2013 | 9:15 am

* * *

Karai had a lot of regrets in her life, moments that would keep her up at night. Releasing a King Cobra on herself will be one of them.

 

If hadn’t occurred to Karai in the slightest that the old lady would own a snake, let alone an extremely poisonous snake, a snake Karai was willing to bet was illegal to even have in the United States.

 

 _What the fuck. What the fuck._ Karai was in near hysterics when she slithered up from the basement, slithered into the kitchen and found a King Cobra on the counter. _I just wanted to steal this old hags Cream of Wheat then I was gonna leave._ Having locked herself in the bathroom Karai commenced having a tiny panic attack. This was just her luck she decided. She listened intently and jumped when she heard a glass shatter. Mr. Tubbs had knocked something off the counter. Worry struck her. _Glass on the floor, shit Mr. Tubbs will get hurt!_

 

She slithered out of the bathroom and back to the entrance of the kitchen. Seeing the glass on the floor at the same time Mr. Tubbs turned his head and looked directly at her. _Fuck_. “Mr. Tubbs you idiot!” she whispered harshly “don’t you fucking move you dumbass rope!” Slithering away, Karai found a broom and a dustpan and returned, thankfully Mr. Tubbs had found himself to be perfectly content on the counter.

 

Quickly, Karai raked the glass into a pile while keeping an eye on Mr. Tubbs, who followed her motions by slightly moving his head to point in her direction wherever she was. Dumping the glass into the bin Karai found the courage to slowly raid the kitchen, with one eye on Mr. Tubbs. Who merely kept his stare directed right at her. To her horror, Karai found that Mr. Tubbs was directly under the cupboard that must be storing food. _Okay, what the fuck does Mr. Tubbs eat?_ Karai opened the fridge, thankful the city still had electricity. The freezer had exactly what she was looking for, wrapped and frozen dead rabbits.

 

Karai took one and slowly backed out of the kitchen and went back into the bathroom, she locked the door, just to feel safer. She doubted Mr. Tubbs could unlock doors. But then again twelve hours ago she though Mr. Tubbs was a cat.

 

She used a hair dryer to unthaw the rabbit. It took awhile, but once Karai was certain it was squishy and warm she picked it up by the slack of its fur and started to leave the bathroom.

 

Some sick work of fate put Mr. Tubbs right outside the bathroom door. _Holy mother of fuck_. In her panic Karai threw the thawed out rabbit down the hall away from her and the kitchen. Mr. Tubbs followed it with his head, just as the rabbit hit the carpet with a soft thud Mr. Tubbs jaws were already clamped around it, his body coiling around his dinner. Karai gawked for a few seconds before gliding into the kitchen. She found a box of a granola bars. She ate ten granola bars while watching from a safe distance as Mr. Tubbs choked down his rabbit.

 

* * *

 January 7th, 2014 | 8:35 pm

* * *

Karai didn’t know a lot about King Cobras, but Mr. Tubbs was pretty chill. The first few days Karai played around with the idea of putting him back into the enclosure. After a few failed attempts, Karai decided Mr. Tubbs was smarter than he appeared. By the end of the week Karai had no reservations about being within a foot of Mr. Tubbs. Neither she or her new roommate had any interest in leaving the house either. It was now January after all.

 

Despite that, Karai still knew she’d have to leave to get food and drinking water. Mr. Tubbs had a small stores worth of frozen rabbits, but Karai was a large mutant snake. Every week she ate a small buffet. With week three of living in this apartment fast approaching Karai knew she needed food.

 

With the TV on low, Karai sat coiled on top of a heating blanket, two feet to her left Mr. Tubbs too was coiled on the heating blanket. She had jeopardy on, because living in an old lady's house she might as well develop a taste for her TV Shows. Mr. Tubbs was also watching, but more so was probably entranced by the flashing colors and buzzers than the actual questions. Karai preferred to think he was actually watching the show. That thought made her feel less lonely.

 

Karai refreshed the heating blanket after it auto turned off. She flicked through the channels during a commercial break and found a news station. A newscaster, in a monotone voice continued to tell the audience everything was okay. There was no alien invasion. The city was on week three of a horrible gas leak. Karai rolled her eyes as a string of drool started to slip out of his mouth. She turned back to Jeopardy.

 

_I reject your reality, and substitute it with Jeopardy._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karai has a lead on where the turtles might be, but things don’t go to plan when Shredder’s men get the jump on her.

* * *

 January 8th, 2014 | 10:20 am

* * *

Karai shivered against the January wind. _What the fuck happened to your front window O’Neil?_ April lived with her dad in an apartment, to be fair Karai reckoned it was a lot nicer when the window was intact.

 

It had dawned on Karai that if the lair was compromised the turtles might have taken refuge at the red head’s home. This was partially correct. The turtles had definitely been here. The sofa in the middle of the street, the broken window, the blood on the floor. There was a fight here, and it was messy. Karai had seen the aftermath of many altercations. Though those ones had more actual dead bodies left behind. There was a sizely blood stain on the floor. She wondered who the blood belonged to, she wondered it one of the turtles got hurt.

 

Karai scoured the residence for food. _Not like they’re around to eat it._ She found a duffle bag with camping supplies, she took it and emptied it. The bag will be useful for when she escapes the city. She found what had to be the dad’s bedroom. Then she spotted it, a family album. With no boundaries, Karai snatched up the photo album and flipped through it.

 

 _Wedding photos, baby photos, pets….and what do we have here?_ It was a picture of April and her mother, Karai assumed, in front of a farmhouse.

 

 _Fuck it, worth a shot_. She slid the photo out of the album and put it in the zipper compartment of her backpack. Before leaving she stole a few packs of batteries, some canned soup and a long winter jacket that must be April’s.

 

* * *

January 8th, 2014 | 12:15 pm

* * *

Upon returning Mr. Tubbs was patiently coiled in front of the fridge, meaning he wanted a rabbit. It was an unspoken system she had developed with her unconventional roomate. Even though Karai came in and out of the house through a window in the basement, Mr. Tubbs never actually went down there or tried to escape when she left.

 

“Alright, move” Karai got a rabbit from the freezer and took it to the bathroom to unthaw it. This time leaving the door open, Mr. Tubbs waited patiently outside the door. Karai threw the rabbit down the hall in the same spot she had thrown the last four rabbits. _Because consistency is important, maybe._

 

While Mr. Tubbs swallowed dinner Karai slithered right past him into the old lady’s office. It was a spare bedroom with a desk and a old tube monitor desktop computer. The password to the dinosaur of technology had been “mrtubbs”, Karai’s second guess. Karai scoured Google maps, looking at upstate New York for an area that fit some of the landmarks Karai picked out of the photo. It took her two tedious hours to find the farmhouse. Karai then used Google maps to get directions. Scribbling down a terribly drawn map, Karai shut off the computer and began making a plan.

 

She couldn’t drive a car, no legs. So she devised that she’d need to pack with the intent of slithering all the way to the O’Neil’s farmhouse. It would be a daunting task to walk it, especially in January. Karai cursed at herself for dumping the camping supplies from the duffle bag, a tent would be useful. First thing she’d do is return to the O’Neil’s apartment and get that tent. Then she’d set out at sunset for the farmhouse.

 

* * *

January 8th, 2014 | 2:00 pm

* * *

Karai left her back pack behind, returning to the O’Neil’s she bet April would have a school bag she could also use, or hell maybe Karai would get really lucky and find a suitcase. _A suitcase with wheels would be a wet dream_ . Karai was more than lucky. She found a suitcase and a sled in the coat closet. _How’d I miss this the first time?_

 

A loud crash came from downstairs, someone had kicked in the front door. Which was aggressive because Karai knew for a fact it wasn’t locked.

 

“Come on Princess we know you’re in here” a man in a thick Russian accent called into the house. “Daddy just misses you is all”.

 

 _Yeah well fuck him with a Sai_. She pushed the sled and suitcase back into the closet and slithered into April’s bedroom.

 

“Wait how do we know she’s in here?” a second voice asked, his voice was higher and definitely more American.

 

“Quiet you!” the Russian scolded “Karai, do not play the games with me.” The man started to ascend the stairs.

 

Mind racing Karai slithered under the bed. _April vacuums under her bed? Nice._ She felt the vibrations as the Russian man started walking down the hall. He paused calling back to his partner “Anton, go outside, make sure she doesn’t leave”.

 

_Anton, huh? What’s my dad giving you guys for my capture?_

 

As the Russian man entered April’s room, Karai lunged from under the bed on top of the man, toppling him over she slithered across him and down the stairs.

 

“You bitch!” the man hollered, picking himself up from his fall. “Anton she is headed your way!”

 

Before Anton could register the commotion Karai zipped by him and down an alleyway. She felt their footsteps through the ground as they pursued her. She’d never dealt with these goons before. The russian she recognized, Ivan Steranko, an arms dealer. The Shredder did business with him at the docks. The black guy was Anton Zech, a hitman with a ‘unique’ style.

 

She felt a bullet pierce her shirt but miss her actual body, Anton had aim even with her swerving. Laughing at the thrill of a good chase, Karai led the men to a dead end that she could escape from.

 

Sure enough the idiots fell for her ploy and she was able to slither up a telephone poll and onto a roof away from them. From the rooftop she looked down over the ledge into the alley and flipped them off. Giggling as they called her names. She slithered back to the old lady’s house. _Fucking morons._

 

* * *

 January 8th, 2014 | 3:30 pm

* * *

Once back to the old lady’s house Karai realized now that Ivan and Zech were probably going to stake out April’s place. Especially if they thought she was living there. The suitcase and sled were now out of reach.

 

She could always break into another apartment. The city was a ghost town. If she could avoid the Kraang Droids and Shredder’s men, she was more than capable of a little breaking and entering. Karai slithered around the basement, until she remembered her bullet pierced shirt.

 

She proceeded to raid the T-Shirt box that she’d found previously and picked out a new one. It was a plain black form fitting tee. She threw her old shirt on the bed and it was blinking.

 

Karai snatched the shirt up and flipped it around. _Fuck, that’s a tracker._

 

On que Karai heard the front door being kicked in. Which was aggressive, because that door was also not locked. Short sword in hand she slithered up the stairs listening intently at the door.

 

“You go down the hall, I will be checking the living room” Ivan said.

 

Karai waited until Zech was right in front of the basement door before she flung it open. The impact made a satisfying smack. Karai was surprised he was actually now unconscious. Hearing the commotion Ivan came out of the living room and saw her before she could move.

 

“Karai!” Ivan shouted.

 

She lunged herself towards Ivan, pivoting to the left last minute to avoid him. Now in the kitchen Karai picked up a pot and tossed it at his head. Ivan smacked it away, unsheathing a sickle from his belt “Come now Karai, do not make me do this the harder of ways”

 

“What’s Shredder giving you for my capture Ivan?” Karai snarled.

 

Ivan grinned, showing two of his golden teeth “Only safe passage out of the city, on and a pretty number with a lot of zeros after it.”

 

“Oh? And you think he will actually pay up?”

 

“I’ve got nothing to lose snake lady”

 

Karai eyed the entranceway to the living room, in a split second she charge him, but he caught her blade in his sickle and twisted her shoulder.

 

“Fuck” she cried out, without thinking she smacked her tail around causing Ivan to stumble into the kitchen table. She retreated into the living room, her shoulder burning “I’m going to fuck you up for that”.

 

“Your father said you were tough” Ivan laughed “I can see that now.”

 

“Fuck you.”

 

“Very unlady like” the man advanced on her “Maybe I should cut out your rotten tongue!”

 

Karai dodged Ivan and slithered back into the kitchen, over Zech and into the office. _Fuck, what do I do_.

 

“Nowhere to run to princess.” Ivan taunted, he was coming in the office, Karai grabbed the computer monitor off of the desk and threw it at him. _Surprise mother fucker._ Ivan stumbled back having easily caught the computer, he started laughing “Is that all you-” his face went slack, he dropped the machine and hollered. His hand reached around and he grabbed his butt cheek.

 

Karai slithered further into the room as Ivan cursed loudly he spotted the culprit in time to see Mr. Tubbs land another strike right above the his knee. “Snake!” Ivan screamed running away from Mr. Tubbs and jumping over Zech. Karai listened as he ran out of the house and down the road, saying things in russian.

 

With no time to lose Karai found some duct tape in a junk drawer in the kitchen and tied Zech up. She then packed all her food into her backpack, and put her clothes and a thick wool blanket into the duffle bag. Operation slither to the farm house had to happen right now.

 

She started to head towards the basement door but Mr. Tubbs was right there, staring into her soul. _Fucking Christ._ “Okay” she placed the duffle bag down “Get in, no time to lose.” Mr. Tubbs, being a snake, did not understand english, and did not get in the duffle bag. _Right_ . Karai rolled her eyes and picked up the snake and put him in the duffle bag. _I hope he isn’t angry when I unzip this._

 

As she slithered out the basement window her heart raced, her plan was gone, she had to go back to the O'Neil's and leave immediately. She couldn’t even risk taking a break there, even though her shoulder hurt badly. This was it. No more Jeopardy and heating blankets, only running.

 

* * *

January 13th, 2014 | 10:05 am

* * *

She stood there on the porch of the farmhouse. It was the place in the picture, all she had to do was knock. _Just tell them the truth._ She took a deep breath. There was a half an inch of snow on the ground. The air bit at her fingers through her thin gloves. Her good shoulder ached from dragging a sled of supplies behind her, and her other shoulder was stiff from Ivan.

 

 _Just tell them the truth._ She knocked, loudly. She felt Mr. Tubbs squeeze himself tighter around her waist under her jacket.

 

She heard footsteps, and hushed voices. “You answer it!”

 

“Why do I have to answer it?”

 

“Because you’re a human.”

 

“That’s not my fault!”

 

“Seriously Casey, just answer the door.”

 

There was silence. “Who is it” Casey yelled through the door.

 

Karai cleared her throat “It’s me, Karai.” she yelled back, voice scratchy from her four day slither to the farm house.

 

The door whipped open to reveal Donnie “Karai!” he shouted.

 

She winced “Yes?”

 

He stared at her. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I needed a vacation, city is kind of crazy right now” she deadpanned. _Fuck don’t be sarcastic._

 

“Funny” Donnie replied “Casey get Mikey, and Raph” Casey rolled his eyes and started up the stairs.

 

“Bossy turtle…”

 

Karai started to get nervous “I’m not here to cause trouble!”

 

“And I should believe you why?” _Donnie seemed pissed._

 

“What’s going on- oh my god it’s our sister!” Mikey put his hands on his face “Karai is here!” He rushed past Donnie onto the porch and wrapped his arms around Karai. _Yep, Leo mentioned he was a hugger._

 

“Mikey don’t hug the enemy!” Donnie exclaimed.

 

Mikey released Karai gasping “How can you say that about our sister, D?”

 

“What’s going on down here, oh look-” Raph had spotted her as he was coming down the stairs “-it’s the brat Leo hangs out with.”

 

“Ouch, I’m hurt Raph” Karai snarked. _Dammit me, stop it._

 

“What happened to your eyes?” Raph asked.

 

“What happened to your face?” Karai snapped. _Wow great insult Karai._

 

Donnie held up his hands “Okay that’s going to get us nowhere fast-”

 

“She started it-”

 

“Actually” Mikey held up a finger “you started it.”

 

Donnie groaned “It doesn’t matter who start-”

 

“But Karai did-”

 

“IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO STARTED IT” Donnie yelled looking around at his now silent brothers he lowered his voice. “Now Karai, what brings you to the O’Niel’s farm house on this lovely morning”.

 

 _Donnie is so pissed._ “I was squatting at an old lady’s apartment, then a couple of Shredder’s men ran me out of town and I tracked you guys down to this place.” _I’m sorta telling the truth._

 

“And what?” Donnie raised his eyebrows.

 

“And what?” Karai asked.

 

“I mean what are you doing here, why did you come here?” Donnie asked.

 

Mikey spoke up before Karai could “She’s going to stay with us!”

 

“What?” Raph exclaimed. “No way.”

 

“Yes way!” Mikey looked at Karai “That’s why you came here right?”

 

“Yeah” she said softly.

 

“Great!” Mikey grabbed her forearm luckily it wasn’t the same arm with her hurt shoulder “You can share a room with me.”

 

“Hey, I’m sharing a room with you!” Raph snapped.

 

“I’m kicking you out. You’re mean.” Mikey announced “also, you sleep in the bathroom every night anyways”

 

“Hold on we have to talk about th-”

 

“We have to talk about letting our sister stay with us?” Mikey asked.

 

Donnie’s mouth was hanging open. Raph was still recovering from his eviction.

 

“Oh shit” Karai grabbed at her coat but she was too late Mr. Tubbs came slithering out landing on the wooden floor.

 

“SNAKE” Raph screeched as he ran back up the stairs, Karai heard a door slam and a lock click.

 

“I can explai-” Karai began but was cut off by Mikey’s cackling.

 

“That was really high pitched” Mikey was laughing.

 

Donnie had his face in his hands, silently laughing, he nodded into them as a response to Mikey.

 

“Come on Karai, I’ll grab your sled. My room is just down the hall right after the kitchen” Mikey smiled.

 

* * *

January 13th, 2014 | 6:10 pm

* * *

Casey and April had apparently taken the news that Karai was staying without complaint. Which she appreciated, seeing as she had personally beaten April up at one point in time.

 

And stole her suitcase, sled, backpack, and oh the coat she arrived in.

 

April, Casey and Raph were less than pleased about her releasing a King Cobra into the farmhouse.

 

After Mikey had shown her the room she would be staying in, Karai slept from that morning until dinner time, when April of all people knocked asking if she would like in on microwaved pizza. She threw on a hoodie and left the bedroom, she wasn’t hungry, but she did want to stretch, and also see the whole farmhouse.

 

She slithered into the living room to find Donnie poking at the wood in the fireplace. In the kitchen Mikey was pressing buttons on a microwave, humming to himself. Raph was nowhere to be found and April and Casey sounded like they were upstairs.

 

“Hey, uh, where’s Blue at?” she asked Donnie.

 

Donnie turned to her, he looked confused “Blue?”

 

“Sorry, uh, Leo” she amended.

 

“Oh!” he frowned “uh he’s in the bathtub.”

 

“Do you know when he’ll be out?”

 

Donnie squinted “Oh right, sorry Karai, my minds in a lot of places. Leo’s in a...coma” He grimaced “we think”.

 

Karai felt sick “A coma?” she asked “you think?” she repeated.

 

“Yeah…” Donnie started slowly. “His shell was cracked, and he’d lost a lot of blood, he was unconscious by the time we arrived over three weeks ago and he still hasn’t woken up.”

 

Karai was silent. Her heart raced. That was his blood in April’s apartment. She lowered herself down to the floor into a coil, so she was sitting on herself. “Fuck”.

 

“But I’ve been working on some mutagenic medicine!” Donnie added hopefully “and his blood pressure is steady, and he isn’t having seizures as often!”

 

_Isn’t having seizures as often?_

 

“Are you okay?” Donnie asked “you look pale”.

 

Karai nodded “I’m fine, I just, I didn’t expect this”. She rubbed her bad shoulder.

 

“You want me to take a look at that for you?” he asked.

 

“You don’t have to pretend to care about me you know”

 

Donnie shrugged “You looked like you saw a ghost when I told you what happened to Leo, you have my trust”

 

Karai smiled.

 

“But Raph definitely hates you now more than ever, he still won’t leave the bathroom. Mikey tried to slide a piece of pizza under the door. It didn’t fit. He used a second slice to push the first slice threw. Then April yelled at him for making a mess” Donnie frowned “Then April yelled at me for just watching Mikey do that and not stopping him”. He turned back to the fire, leaving Karai with her thoughts.

 

 _Living with you guys is going to be so fucking weird._ “Yeah, I’d appreciate it” Karai said after a moment of silence.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now living with at the farm house, Karai sees her once enemies in a completely different light.

* * *

 January 14th, 2014 | 3:15 pm

* * *

Leo had not been kidding, she may have very well hugged herself into Mikey’s good graces. Mikey and her also shared a bedroom which at first weirded everyone out until Karai mentioned that she was now nocturnal, and since the turtles had adopted a human sleeping schedule to be awake when April and Casey were, Karai and Mikey were rarely in the room at the same time.

 

Her first task as a new house guest was locating and containing Mr. Tubbs who was actually not a King Cobra according to Donnie.

 

Mr. Tubbs was a Chinese Cobra. Specifications were very important. While that information was not as important as the fact that Donnie suspected the snake had been defanged. The two times he’d seen Mr. Tubbs he had noted the snake did not show it’s fangs, the cobra only made a hissing noise.

 

The high probability of Mr. Tubbs being defanged did not persuade Raph to unlock himself from the bathroom. He would allow Donnie to slip in to check on Leo, but no one else.

 

“Okay, you two find that Chinese Cobra, I have to run tests on this blood sample” Donnie said in the direction of Karai and Mikey. “Raph is really scared of snakes, and cockroaches. Which is funny, but also annoying.”

 

“Wait why do I have to help?” Mikey asked.

 

“Because you were the one that basically dragged Karai and the cobra in the house” Donnie wagged his finger menacingly “also, because I said so”.

 

Mikey frowned “Who put you in charge?”

 

“I put myself in charge when Leo fell into a coma and Raph refused to leave his side.”

 

Mikey closed his mouth as Donnie turned and walked out of the farmhouse to the barn. _Donnie, destroyer of moods._

 

“What is he doing in the barn?” Karai asked a somber looking Mikey.

 

Mikey twisted his face “It’s his new lab or something, April made him go out there because she didn’t want anything exploding in the farmhouse”.

 

“Oh” Karai said. _Explosions? What the hell?_

 

“Anyways…” Mikey put on a smile “Where do you think Mr. Tubbs is?”

 

“Someplace warm and quiet” she adjusted her sling. Donnie said her shoulder was spranged not dislocated. “So I don’t think he’ll go outside”.

 

“How come?” Mikey asked.

 

“Because that’s where I’d go?” Karai then pointed at her tail “And I’m more snake than human now”.

 

“Okay, sorry” Mikey walked up the stairs. And down the hall, Karai slithered after him having never been upstairs before and also confused at Mikey’s apology. She stopped in the hallway at the top of the stairs. Mikey stopped in front of a door a down the hall. “Hey Raph?”

 

“What is it Mikey?” Raph said through the door.

 

Mikey bit his lower lip nervously “How warm is it in there?”

 

There was silence “What? Why?”

 

“I’m just curious.” Mikey said, forcing a smile. Karai suddenly had a bad feeling.

 

“Fine, uh, the thermometer is readin’ 76 degrees Fahrenheit” Raph replied annoyed.

 

“Okay, thanks Raph” Mikey walked back towards Karai. “Is that warm for a snake?”

 

“Yeah.” Karai said then after thinking about it added “Seeing as the rest of the house is in the high sixties, that bathroom is nice and warm.”

 

Mikey nodded, face still twisted up in a weird smile.

 

“...is it warm because Leo’s in there?” she asked tentatively. 

 

His face dropped at the mention on Leo “...yeah” Mikey said quietly. Then he turned and went back to the door. “Hey Raph?”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s me again.”

 

A loud sigh came from the other side of the door “Go figure, whadda want Mikey?”

 

“Is it quiet in there?”

 

“It was until you showed up.” Raph moaned.

 

“Okay, thanks Raph” Mikey walked back to Karai “So you think Mr. Tubbs is in there?”

 

 _Oh yeah, definitely._ “Maybe”

 

“Okay” Mikey bit his lip “Uh, any idea how we can ask Raph to look for a snake….without telling him there’s a snake in there?”

 

 _Funny_. “Uh, ask him to find something you dropped on the floor?”

 

“Okay but what did I drop?” Mikey asked.

 

“Make something up.” Karai wasn’t seeing the issue.

 

“Okay…” Mikey walked back to the door this time Karai followed. “Hey Raph?”

 

“For the love of- What Mikey? What is it?”

 

Mikey was silent.

 

“Go on” Karai whispered. _You got this, why are you so nervous?_

 

Mikey gulped “Uh I, I forgot something in the bathroom.”

 

Raph sighed “And?”

 

“I think it’s on the floor.”

 

“That, that doesn’t narrow it down Mikey, what did you forget in here?”

 

Mikey looked around searching for an answer “....uh, my cobra?”

 

 _Seriously?_ Karai smacked her hand on her forehead.

 

The lock clicked the door swung open and a blur of green bolted out of the bathroom down the stairs and out the house without a single word.

 

Mikey gulped “He’s gonna kill me.”

 

Karai entered the bathroom and her heart caught in her throat. She whipped her head away from Leo and looked back at Mikey, who was covering his eyes.

 

“Why are you covering your eyes like that?” she asked.

 

“I don’t want to see him” Mikey said quietly. “That’s not Leo”.

 

Karai’s face fell into a small frown but she turned back to the tub. He did look awful. He was pal, his face was slightly thinner, one of his eyes looked like it was recovering from a nasty blow. She swallowed the rock in her throat and brought her gaze down to the floor.

 

Under a magazine and a towel on the floor a gray scaly tail poked out. Karai grabbed it and pulled Mr. Tubbs to her. The snake squirmed a little but she held on tightly. Taking one last glance at Leo, she left the bathroom.

 

“Come on I got Mr. Tubbs, let’s go” she slithered past Mikey who now with eyes closed instead of covered, blindly groped for the door knob and closed the door.

 

In a weird way she understood why Raph rarely left his side, but she also didn’t think she could stay in there with him like...that.

 

* * *

January 28th, 2014 | 7:00 am

* * *

Leo’s brothers were very protective of him. Even with Karai being at the farm house for two weeks, she wasn’t explicitly barred from seeing Leo, but no one invited her to see him either. It seemed to her only two of the brothers actually touched him while unconcious. Mikey seemed happier not seeing Leo in the tub.

 

In fact, the one and only time she had really gotten a clear look at him was when she removed Mr. Tubbs from the room. Other than that one instance she had no excuse to enter the bathroom upstairs. The bedroom she shared with Mikey was on the ground floor, and the ground floor had a bathroom. There also was an outhouse. Mikey exclusively used the outhouse claiming it was a one in a lifetime experience. Raph now decided he would bunk with Casey, Donnie and April in the master bedroom upstairs.

 

Karai at first thought must have been cramped until it became clear that Casey usually slept on the couch, Donnie would fall asleep in the barn, Raph camps out in the bathroom leaving April to sleep alone in the largest bedroom.

 

When Karai entered the kitchen that morning to make some tea, she saw Donnie blending something up in the blender. Raph came in and grimaced, making eye contact with Donnie who also grimaced. Karai looked at the exchange confused. April came in the kitchen in a robe over the top of some pajamas.

 

“I was thinking I would make pancakes” she yawned. “They should be done by the time you two come back down”.

 

“Thanks Ape” Raph said. Sipping from the mug in his hand. Donnie poured the contents of the blender into a tall glass and grabbed a package from a drawer in the kitchen. Karai saw now that it looked like medical tubing.

 

“Right behind you Don” Raph sighed, following Donnie out of the kitchen.

 

April was whipping something in a bowl “They’re going to be in a bad mood the rest of the day” she sighed. Karai was surprised April was talking to her. “They had to start tube feeding him after he didn’t wake up in the first week”.

 

 _Oh._ Karai felt sick, again.

 

“Donnie and Raph take care of him mostly” April continued “Mikey is too freaked out by the noises Leo makes, Donnie assures him he’s unconscious and it’s just an involuntary response but Mikey was very disturbed after trying to help the first time. Now he won’t even look at Leo.”

 

“Yeah, I noticed that” Karai added softly. “Do you guys know what happened to him?”

 

“No, he was nearly dead when they tossed him through my window” She took a ladle and dropped it into the batter, scooping up some and pouring it into a pan “we’re lucky he’s alive honestly.”

 

Karai looked down “Oh, how often do they...do this?”

 

“Once every three days about” April flipped the pancake “don’t take it took hard if they don’t tell you anything. They’re all very close. Leo being like this has put them all under a lot of stress”.

 

She nodded as Mikey entered the kitchen “Oh you’re making pancakes! I love pancakes!” he exclaimed happily. “Oh Karai, you can have the room now to sleep if you want.”

 

“Thanks, Mikey”

 

“You’re not staying up for pancakes?” April asked.

 

Karai shrugged “I’m part snake now, so I only eat once a week it’s … weird”.

 

April nodded “Alright then, Goodnight Karai”.

 

“Goodnight Karai” Mikey added.

 

“Yeah, night guys.” she slithered out of the kitchen and into the bedroom. Once in the bedroom she checked on Mr. Tubbs, luckily April had at one point in time owned a salamander and she still had the glass tank stored away in the attic. She let Karai have it for Mr. Tubbs, along with a heated rock and lamp.

 

Mikey had helped her find and clean off rocks and bark slabs to decorate the tanks with. Saying he understood the difficulties of having a weird pet.

 

She supposed having a pet cobra was somewhat similar to owning a mutant icecream cat.

 

Karai slithered up on to the bed, she opened the blind knowing in an hour there would be a square of sunlight for her to sleep in. However she wasn’t tired. Instead she listened. She heard Mikey and April in the kitchen. She heard Casey snoring softly on the couch. She heard Donnie and Raph whispering comforting things to their older brother. Things that made her throat close and her heart drop into her stomach.

 

* * *

February 14th, 2014 | 7:30 pm

* * *

A month into her stay at the farm house marked nearly two months of Leo being unconscious, causing tensions to rise. Raph and Donnie fought. It seemed an eternity passed before April had enough. With Casey’s help she dragged him out of the barn demanding to know why they were fighting.

 

Karai came into the kitchen as well, curiosity getting the better of her after she heard Raph lock himself in the upstairs bathroom, again.

 

“Look man, we get it, this is family shit” Casey was taking the lead in starting the conversation “but this isn’t right, you and Raph always at each other’s throats. Man, what’s going on?”

 

“Did Raph put you up to this?” Donnie asked.

 

“Don’t do that Donnie, don’t try to change the subject” April scolded.

 

Donnie drummed his fingers on the table and sighed. “We disagree about some realities we are going to need to start facing.”

 

“Which are?” Casey coaxed.

 

“That, I think Leo may have suffered a significant damage to his spine, and that Raph seems to think Leo will jump out of the tub if he stares at him long enough”.

 

“Damage to his spine?” Karai spoke up. “What kind of damage?”

 

Donnie threw his hands up into the air “I don’t know, I can’t get an x-ray, and he isn’t awake for me to ask. It could be nothing. It could be devastating, he could be paralysed. I don’t know, but everytime I even suggest Leo might not come out the same Raph freaks out on me”. Donnie put his face in his hands.

 

No one talked, they all watched Donnie not knowing how to comfort him. He put his head back up and looked at Casey “Raph still thinks he’s going to wake up” he stopped mid sentence and shook his head violently like he could shake away the urge to sob. April and Casey went over to him and wrapped their arms around him. Donnie silently sobbed into his own hands.

 

Karai didn’t know Donnie well enough to do or say anything as comfort, so she slowly slithered out of the kitchen and into the living room where she spotted Mikey sitting on the couch. He was hugging his knees to the front of his shell staring at the muted television set. She wanted to stop, say something to him, but she forced herself to move towards the stairs and glide up them.

 

As she approached the bathroom door she raised her hand to knock and stopped because Raph was talking to someone.

 

_Was Leo awak-_

 

“Also he saw one dog, that would neither con...con sill ate….conciliate CONCILIATE! Knew I’d get it, anyways, neither conciliate nor obey finally killed in the struggle-”

 

Her heart sank. _Raph was reading something to Leo._

 

She listened at the door for a while, before turning around and slithering down the stairs, Raph was an okay reader, not great, but okay. _Leo would probably appreciate it if he was awake_. Mikey was still on the couch.

 

“You want to watch Jeopardy with me?” she asked in her most nonchalant voice she could muster.

 

“Jeopardy?” He asked, voice shaky. Mikey looked to be on the verge of tears.

 

“Yeah, you in?” she grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels for Jeopardy. “Sometimes, when stuff is tough,” _Like being an mutant snake or your older brother dying in a bathtub_ “I just watch Jeopardy” she shrugged.

 

Her and Mikey watched Jeopardy for a while in silence, at some point Donnie, April and Casey joined them. It had to be the most normal thing any of them had done together.

 

After three episodes Casey piped up with “How is this on the air still?”

 

* * *

February 21st, 2014 | 8:00 pm

* * *

“He’s seriously staying in there” Donnie moaned as Casey walked out of the farmhouse with no Raph in sight.

 

They had decided since it was a mild night to have some fun. They got the fire pit going. They had marshmallows, the plan was to spend tonight eating smores and acting normal. Mikey had told Casey he was their best shot at convincing Raph to join them. Since Raph spent a concerning amount of time just sitting next to Leo.

 

“Sorry guys, he’s stubborn” Casey shrugged. “Man it’s boring with him just watching Leo non-stop”. Karai thought she almost heard jealousy in his voice.

 

Karai watched as they talked about random things, Raph watching Leo constantly. April and Donnie talked about supplies and researching what’s happening in the city. Casey was trying and failing to show Mikey how to toast a marshmallow without burning it.

 

She could see the problems being caused by Leo’s absence. Raph had completely removed himself from the family, as such his human best friend Casey was left with April and Mikey for companionship. Donnie and Casey didn’t like each other, Karai suspected it was because Casey kept hitting on April.

 

“So Karai, when do I get to pay you back” April interrupted her train of thought.

 

“Pay me back?” Karai asked.

 

“For beating me up last year?” April’s tone didn’t seem serious, more like she was dragging Karai into the conversation.

 

“Oh right!” Karai played along “I don’t know how fair it would be O'Neil, I’ve recently experienced a combat upgrade.” She gestured to her snake lower half.

 

“Alright fine” April bit into her perfectly cooked marshmallow “I can see you are scared to face me again”.

 

Karai laughed, it was weird joking around with another girl her age. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry.”

 

April batted her hand in Karai’s direction “Shut up it’s in the past, just poking at you.”

 

“If it makes you feel better, Blu- I mean Leo really chewed me out for it”.

 

“He did?” Donnie sat up in his lawn chair suddenly interested in the conversation.

 

“Yeah, he found me that same night, katanas blazing” Karai smiled “He was so pissed, and I’ve never seen him actually pissed at me”.

 

Donnie looked exasperated and so did Mikey “We were pissed at him for defending you! He was telling us ‘guys she’s not bad, she didn’t put April in the hospital, the Shredder undoubtedly forced her to do it’ We had to hold Raph back from ripping his shell in two”.

 

Karai’s eyes widened “I had no idea I put you all through that”.

 

“Wait wait, so how often did you and Leo get together?” Mikey asked.

 

“Yeah” Donnie pointed at Mikey “That’s a good question, because now that I think about it Leo would sneak out an awful lot, especially after the incident at the docks” Mikey and Casey looked alarmed “…what, I do look at the security camera footage”.

 

“Uh…” Karai started.

 

“Also, you called him Blue the first day you were here” Donnie smiled mischievously “what’s that all about?”

 

“Just a nickname” She felt heat on her face.

 

“Just a nickname?” April repeated “sounds more like a pet name to me”. _April you're not fucking helping._

 

“His mask is blue so I started calling him Blue” Karai crossed her arms “you are all making this into something it isn’t”

 

“What is it then?” Mikey asked.

 

Karai didn’t know how to respond. “We’re friends”.

 

“Friends that would sneak out and do who knows what multiple times a week without telling anyone?” Donnie asked suspiciously.

 

“We’re...secret friends?” Karai was certain she was blushing now “What does it matter what we used to do? I know Splinter is my dad now, so I am on your side”.

 

“Leo has a crush on you though” Casey added.

 

Karai rolled her eyes “And the sky is blue, tell me something new Jones”.

 

“You’re very defensive” Donnie pointed out.

 

“Pet names... defensive attitude... blushing...” April was counting these things off on her fingers “sure you’re just friends?”

 

“Donnie has a pet name for you”. Karai blurted out.

 

“Oh things are getting spicy!” Mikey exclaimed as April’s head whipped to Donnie.

 

“That’s a lie!” Donnie yelped.

 

“Oh is it?” Karai asked, feeling the tables turn “Leo told me all about the pet names you have for April” she smiled and looked at April. “I didn’t start calling you ‘Princess’ for no good reason...course I took off the ‘Beautiful’ part”.

 

Now Donnie’s face was red.

 

Mikey was cackling “Oh man how mad are you going to be at Leo, D?”

 

“Whoa, what other things did Leo tell you?” Donnie asked.

 

“This and that” Karai shrugged “like you said we did get together often”.

 

Mikey stopped laughing and took on a sudden serious tone “he didn’t tell you about the time I sat on some still wet cement and he had to help me scrape it off my shell, right?”

 

Karai stared “...no, but thanks for telling me”.

 

“When did that happen?” Donnie asked “I can’t believe Leo didn’t tell us that! That’s hilarious!”

 

Mikey groaned “I begged him not to, also he said he wasn’t eager to tell everyone about how close he had to be to my butt for like an hour”. He gasped “He didn’t tell you about the time a piece of pepperoni got stuck to my shell and I thought I had a disease but then it fell off and I ate it and then I was scared that I was turning into a pizza”

 

“Dude” Casey sighed “That happened three days ago”.

 

“Huh” Mikey shrugged “Time moves fast when you are made of pepperoni”.

 

_What?_

 

“Any embarrassing ones about Donnie?” April asked moving past Mikey’s nonsensical statement.

 

“Hey!” Donnie retorted

 

“This is payback for that pet name” she sassed.

 

Karai laughed “Blue told be about how Donnie was the one to give you all the birds and the bees at age nine”.

 

“Alright I’m out” Casey laughed “have fun with this I’m going to go annoy the shit out of Raph”. Casey walked back into the farmhouse shaking his head the whole way.

 

“In my defense I was only eager to share the wealth of knowledge-”

 

“You terrorized us with scary diagrams whenever we annoyed you!” Mikey hollered. April was laughing and Karai was barely holding onto her own composure. “I had nightmare about having a uterus, dude”.

 

“I wish I had left with Casey”

 

“You guys wouldn’t leave me alone, I had impo-”

 

“What’s this about stories?” Raph was walking towards them.

 

“Oh look you came out of the bathroom, who’s with Leo?” Donnie asked. Happy to create a distraction.

 

“Casey’s got it under control” Raph huffed “told me you guys are out here spreading tales”.

 

“That reminds me Raph” Karai started “I’ve been meaning to ask you what you were hoping to accomplish when you got your head stuck in that chair”.

 

Raph’s mouth fell open. Mikey and Donnie were laughing hard, reliving the memory.

 

“Wait, wait! I need to know this one!” April said while laughing.

 

“No” Raph interupted “No, we do not talk about that, who told you that?”

 

“Leo did” April answered for Karai “Leo apparently has been telling Karai a lot of stories”.

 

“Oh, okay, I see” Raph looked at the snickering group “Leo runs off and tells his girlfriend all about us behind our back huh”

 

“I’m not his-” Karai began but Raph talked over her.

 

“I smell the opportunity for payback!” Raph declared.

 

“Payback?” Donnie and Mikey said together.

 

“Yeah...payback!” Raph smiled, and Raph had a scary smile Karai noted “Snake Lady, how many embarrassing stories did Leo tell you about himself?”

 

 _Oh I see where you are going_. “None” Karai smiled.

 

“Donnie, Mikey, I think we should give Leo a little taste of his own medicine!” Raph rubbed his hands together menacingly “who wants to go first?”

 

* * *

February 27th, 2014 | 6:30 pm

* * *

It had been a week after the fire pit. Karai noted how Raph was at least talking to her more. He’d say hello at breakfast. He’d ask her questions, or even strike up a conversation.

 

It was nearing the end of February when Raph casually asked Karai if she’d watch Leo that night.

 

She nearly choked on her drink “What?” she asked, because certainly he did not just ask her that.

 

Raph stabbed a ravioli with his fork “Casey and I are going to be” he stopped “going to be doing something tonight, and I was hopin’ you’d keep an eye on Leo”.

 

“Wouldn’t you rather Donnie watched him?”

 

Raph chewed slowly “I was hoping this would stay between us?”

 

“Yeah sure, I’ll...I’ll watch him” she felt nervous.

 

It was rare Raph and her were in a room alone. It just so happened today that Raph was eating his dinner late and Karai had woken up early. Donnie was with Leo. Mikey, Casey and April were in the farmhouse library looking for a board game since the cable had been acting funny.

 

After a minute or two of silence she spoke up “do I have to do anything?”

 

“Nah, just, sit with him” Raph looked up “I read to him, and don’t you dare tell anyone that”

 

“Okay” she replied, feeling this was not the time to make jokes.

 

“We’re on page 80 of Jack London’s Call of the Wild, it you want to read that to him” Raph scraped up some sauce with his fork adding “I’m not all that invested in the storyline so I don’t mind if you read some more of it to him, just move the bookmark when yer done” he got up and took his plate to the sink. “I’ll come find you when it’s time.

 

She nodded, still processing the idea that she was going to sit next to Leo for possibly hours.

 

An hour and a half later, Raph found Karai on the porch and gestured for her to follow him upstairs. When they got to the bathroom, Raph showed her where the Jack London book was, and showed her how to monitor the water temperature, along with explaining how to raise it.

 

“Uh, he mumbles sometimes, not even words, just uh...whines i guess. Don’t freak out, it’s not him waking up, Donnie says he probably is having dreams” Raph looked around the bathroom “Yep, that should be it, uh I’ll be back in a few hours”

 

When Raph left she closed the door and moved the stool into the corner of the room so she could coil herself in the center of the room.

 

Leo looked strange without his mask and gear. She noted his eye looked completely healed. He had a few scars on his arms, some looked like they were from battle. Some looked like they were from other things.

 

She did end up reading Call on the Wild, only a few pages before she heard footsteps coming up the stairs so she stopped and listened.

 

A knock came at the door “Hey”

 

It was Mikey.

 

“Hey Mikey, uh Raph isn’t here” Karai said through the door.

 

“I know” Mikey replied, “I saw him leave with Casey”.

 

“Oh” Karai didn’t know what to say. “You want to come in?”

 

“I don’t know” Mikey said quietly.

 

“I could open the door, and you could stay out there, if you want?” Karai asked

 

“No, then the room would get cold”

 

“Oh, yea I guess you’re right”.

 

“I’ll come in…” Mikey said after a moment of silence.

 

Karai opened the door and moved over, she took the stool from the corner of the room and slid it over to Mikey, who took it and sat on it after closing the door behind him.

 

“I was reading to him” Karai held up the book “you want to talk or do you want me to keep reading?”

 

“I’ve never read that book”

 

“I could start from the beginning”

 

“That’s okay, I just don’t want to be alone is all” Mikey looked at the floor, he was avoiding looking at Leo directly.

 

Karai nodded “Where’s Donnie and April?”

 

“They’re in the barn” Mikey sighed “I felt like a third wheel so I left”.

 

Karai started reading again. She wasn’t sure what was going on in the book having started near the end but she kept reading until she noticed Mikey was leaned over, head on the sink asleep. _Okay the book isn’t that boring._

 

The door opened and Karai jumped.

 

“You’re not Raph” Donnie said to her, annoyed.

 

“Good eye” Karai replied.

 

Donnie rolled his eyes “Where’s Raph?”

 

“I don’t know”

 

“Where’s Casey?”

 

“I don’t know”

 

“You don’t know, or they didn’t tell you?”

 

“They didn’t tell me”

 

“Okay, good talk” Donnie closed the door and left.

 

 _That was weird_. She was about to continue reading when the door opened again.

 

Donnie was back “If you did know, but they told you not to tell me, would you tell me?”

 

“What do you think?”

 

“So you do know where they are?”

 

“I know where they aren’t”

 

“Where aren’t they?”

 

“They aren’t here, and they aren’t anywhere they want you to know of”.

 

“You’re enjoying this”.

 

“What do you think”.

 

“Uh huh” Donnie squinted at her and added “when and if you see Raph, tell him I need a word” and with that he closed the door and left.

 

_What is going on?_

 

“Hey” she elbowed Mikey.

 

Mikey made noises in response.

 

“Okay whatever” she turned to Leo “You’re brothers are fucking weird”

 

No one responded to that of course.

 

Raph came back an hour or so after Donnie’s interrogation, he opened the door, looked at Mikey and raised his brow.

 

“Wow, he hasn’t been in here since January. You want some beer?” He held up a six pack, a beer already missing from it.

 

“I’ll pass” she said “Hey Donnie came looking for you”.

 

“Sounds like him” Raph close the door and leaned against it. “Any issues?”

 

“No, but I accidentally put Michelangelo to sleep with my reading”

 

“That’ll happen” Raph used the top of his shell to remove the cap on his beer.

 

“Hey, what are those scars right here” Karai pointed to the inside of Leo’s wrists that were usually covered in wrappings.

 

Raph grimaced “hoped you wouldn’t see those to be frank”.

 

“What are they?” she pressed on.

 

“Battle scars”

 

“Battle scars?” Karai asked.

 

Raph sighed. He glanced at Mikey and kicked him lightly in the foot, when Mikey didn’t even react Raph continued “Look Karai, I’ll be straight with you, because I’m tired of the games, but there are some things you are going to have to realize about us if you want in this family”.

 

Karai bit back the urge to point out she was literally Splinter’s biological daughter. “Like what?”

 

“That there are some things that stay between brothers” he pointed at Leo “those scars on his wrist for example”.

 

Karai didn’t say anything.

 

“You see, we didn’t know about that little habit there until this coma” Raph said sounded a little angry. “And at the time, a few of them were not that old”.

 

“...oh” Karai breathed.

 

“Yeah” Raph took a swig of beer “so when we found those the last thing we wanted was for April and Casey to see ‘em. Cause then they’d ask questions”.

 

“I get it.”

 

“Do you?” Raph frowned “Because you two spend and awful lot of time with each other so I’m wondering if you knew”.

 

Karai was taken aback “Raph I swear I had no idea he was doing that”.

 

Raph didn’t look convinced. "Just seems like the kind of habit he'd pick up from-"

 

"From what?" Karai asked defensively "From me? I'm a brat so I must have taught him that".

 

Raph opened his mouth and closed it.

 

"I don't do that" Karai seethed "I'm not some weakling".

 

Raph frowned "I never called you weak and doing that- erg. Never mind. Be honest with me Karai. Did ya know?" he asked the last part angrily.

 

“I’m serious, he never took off his wrappings in front of me or anything, how would I have known?” Karai closed the book and put it back on the sink.

 

Raph batted a hand at her “Okay, okay I believe you. I guess he had us all fooled”.

 

“Why'd you call them 'battle scars' if he made them?”

 

“Because they are”. When Karai just looked at him questioningly he elaborated “to do that to yourself...you have to be battling something”.

 

_Sure._

 

* * *

March 31st, 2014 | 11:00 am

* * *

Karai had been giving pointers to Casey as he sparred off against April. April was of course being coached by Donnie. Mikey was the ref slash judge, giving out scores.

 

Casey could hit harder, but aside from punching the boy didn’t have any tricks up his sleeves, he was very bad at dodging April’s hits and he didn’t land a single direct blow. Karai had to admit that since the last time she saw April, the girl had improved.

 

After the sparring match, it was time for lunch. April and Donnie headed to the kitchen, Casey flipped through channels looking for a reliable news station. Karai watched as Michelangelo skipped out behind the farm house and sat in the grass cross legged facing the woods.

 

_What was that all about?_

 

She lingered there, not knowing what to do. Admittedly it was less awkward now than it had been when she first arrived. March was coming to a close, everyone seemed comfortable with each other. She slithered into the kitchen to find Donnie talking to April about something in a near whisper. They were talking about money.

 

Karai felt guilty. She still had that cash from Fishface’s van, but it was literally a rainy day fund. Though now she realized, the grocery trips April and Casey made every week were not free. It was part of the reason Karai hunted. Partially embarrassed by the amount of food she consumed once a week, every friday she’d have dinner with them all, then that night when they went to bed, she’d hunt.

 

She’d allow her snake side to take over. She could see in the dark, she could hear every animal around her. A small cluster of deer looking for a place to sleep. They weren’t fast enough to outrun her. She could slither faster. She had adapted the the forest floor, two and a half months of being in those woods and her body was white silk under the moon. Karai was impressed with herself.

 

It still meant she was riding off the back of April.

 

“Donnie, I know you guys will pay me back” April reassured the guilty looking mutant. “The issue is the credit cards got declined last week, we only had enough cash for half the groceries, so that’s what we got”.

 

Donnie rubbed his face. “There a dump a few miles from here, maybe Mikey and I can raid it for scrap metal-”

 

“I’d help” Karai interrupted.

 

They both jumped. Karai did have a nasty habit of being able to enter a room unnoticed.

 

“You would?” Donnie asked.

 

“Yeah” Karai said looking at Donnie “I mean, I’ve been living here rent free, time I pull my fucking weight right?”

 

Donnie looked surprised “Okay, okay. We’d need Casey to drive...how are we on gas?”

 

April grimaced “We have enough to go to the gas station and look longingly at the pump”.

 

Donnie went back to looking defeated.

 

“Hey, we’ll figure it out” April tried to reassure.

 

“Hey what’s Mikey doing out there?” Karai asked remembering originally why she came into the kitchen.

 

Donnie rolled his eyes “Who knows, it’s Mikey”

 

“Is he meditating?” Karai pressed. She sometimes would sneak up on Leo when he’d meditate.

 

“No, he’s probably playing pretend or something” Donnie sighed. “He needs to grow up”.

 

Karai didn’t respond. It wasn’t her place. Instead she left the kitchen, slithered past Casey on the couch and out of the farm house. She found Mikey still sitting in front of the woods. He was brushing the grass gently.

 

“Hey Mikey” Karai announced her presence to him.

 

“Oh, hiya Karai” he replied cheerfully. That was the great thing about Mikey. Karai had yet to ever catch him in a bad mood. He was happy to talk with anyone, no matter what was going on.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Talkin’ to the grass” Mikey smiled at her. “Well actually, they are talking to me. But they all talk at the same time so I can’t understand what they are saying” he frowned.

 

 _Um what?_ “The grass?” Karai looked down at the grass below her.

 

Mikey looked down defeated “If you are just going to make fun of me like Donnie you can leave”.

 

“What? No, I just” Karai snapped her fingers looking for a polite way to phrase this “I’ve just never heard of someone talking to….the grass”.

 

Mikey went back to brushing the grass with his hand.

 

 _Oh what kind of fucking nonsense did I get myself into_. “Does the grass….like it when you do that?” Karai asked hoping it sounded sincere.

 

“Hmm, I think” Mikey twisted his lips “Grass isn’t very smart, the trees are smarter. Not like, Donnie smart, but they at least say things that make sense. Except the ones with mushrooms growing on them. Those trees are weird”.

 

Karai looked at the woods “those trees?”

 

“Yeup” Mikey laughed “That reminds me, by the creek there’s an oak tree who tells me the deer have ghost stories”

 

“The trees talk to the deer?”

 

“Yeah! Of course they do!” Mikey smiled.

 

 _Oh, totally, silly me for not realizing the deer and the trees talk._ “What was the ghost story?”

 

Mikey raised a brow “You should know, it’s about you”.

 

Karai didn’t know how to respond to that.

 

“You are the white serpent who kills deer out in the woods when they sleep, aren’t you?” Mikey asked.

 

“How do you know that?” Karai was stunned. No one knew about her hunting expeditions.

 

“The trees told me” Mikey replied. He brushed the grass again “I think the grass likes this, they make a happy humming noise. If someone was doing something you liked, would you make a happy humming noise? I think I would, I hum when I am eating a really good slice of pizza. So maybe it’s like that”.

 

Karai stared at him.

 

“It’s okay if you think I’m crazy” Mikey added quietly.

 

“Are you being serious? You’re not, I don’t know, pranking me right?” Karai slithered in front of Mikey to get a better look at him.

 

“No. Why does everyone always ask that?”

 

“It just...it sounds made up”

 

“You sound like Donnie, and Raph” Mikey looked at the trees “Leo always believed me”. Mikey didn’t look sad when he mentioned Leo, which had to be a first.  “Donnie and Raph said Leo only believed me because Leo believes in all the meditative stuff. They think I’m just messing with Leo, so they pick on Leo for falling for it”.

 

“You want me to beat them up for you?” Karai added.

 

Mikey looked up surprised “You’d do that for me?”

 

“Sure. What the hell” Karai shrugged.

 

Mikey processed this new information “Hmmm, can I cash it in later or do I have to use it now?”

 

“I don’t care, I’m always in the mood to beat someone up”

 

“Okay, because I want to wait until Leo’s awake” Mikey picked a twig off the ground and twirled it around “he says he wants to see that”. He threw the twig at the woods. It didn’t go far, it was a light twig.

 

“He says? Don’t you mean said?”

 

“Sometimes, when his spirit is strong enough, I’ll see him” Mikey paused “he was the one who told me to drag you into the house that night”.

 

Karai just stared.

 

“Yeah, he said you’d traveled a long distance to get here” Mikey stood up “but I don’t dare tell Raph or Donnie because the last time I did Raph pummeled me for saying I was talking to Leo”.

 

Mikey walked away into the farmhouse. Karai stayed there, staring before she turned to the woods. She stood there, as much as a mutant snake girl could “stand” and looked around. For a warm day she felt really cold.

 

* * *

March 31st, 2014 | 12:30 pm

* * *

Karai was not the spiritual type. The Shredder had never pushed meditation, or inner peace. Looking back, that made a lot of sense. Karai usually avoided thinking about her father. When she failed to kill him and disfigured herself she decided to look forward instead of behind her.

 

After her unnerving conversation with Leo’s youngest brother, Karai had slithered off into her bedroom to catch some sleep. This time she slithered under the bed, where she felt safest. She often went into tight, confined and dark places when less than appealing thoughts intruded her mind. Though she was further than she’d ever been from The Shredder sometimes she’d awake in a cold sweat with the feeling of his lips pressed on her neck and his hand crawling down the front of her pants.

 

She coiled around herself tighter. The dust bunnies wouldn’t tell Mikey about her crying at least.

 

* * *

April 1st, 2014 | 7:10 am

* * *

The next morning she returned from the woods to find five tired beings around a kitchen table. Casey and Raph were standing on one side of the kitchen shoulder to shoulder, Mikey was humming and stirring a large pot of oatmeal. Donnie was sitting at the table almost asleep on his arms. April looked up at her from the table.

 

“Morning guys” Karai announced her presence.

 

A chorus of mumbles greeted her. Only Mikey seemed happy. “Good Morning Karai!” he smiled brightly.

 

“You’re in a good mood” Karai smiled.

 

Mikey nodded “Today is going to be a great day!” he stirred the oatmeal enthusiastically.

 

“You’ve been saying that since you woke up” Donnie yawned “why is today going to be a great day?”

 

“You’ll see!” Mikey said. Content with not dropping anymore hints than that.

 

Raph grunted “It’s April firs’, so Mikey is gonna be a pain in the ass all day”.

 

“It’s April first?!” Mikey yelled causing everyone to flinch. It was too early in the morning for loud noises.

 

A collective response of “nice try” and “we know you didn’t forget” filled the room.

 

After breakfast Karai pulled April off to the side asking for a word in private. Once Karai had April in her and Mikey’s shared room she turned and rummaged through her backpack and pulled out the five grand she had stowed away.

 

“Take this” Karai held it out to her.

 

April’s eyes widened “Karai I can’t, you don’t have to do-”

 

“Uhg, don’t do that. Don’t act stoic or some shit. Take the money. I stole it from fishface” Karai added the last part hoping it would answer any questions about how she got it.

 

April took the money and realizing how much it was started to hand it back “Karai this is like five thousand dollars!”

 

“And?”

 

“That’s way too-”

 

“I overheard the words credit card and declined yesterday. Both in the same sentence. Take the money, use it to pay off whatever debt playing fucking house has put you in”.

 

April nodded. “I- thanks Karai”

 

“Don’t mention it”.

 

“I-”

 

“No, seriously, don’t mention it. I gave it to you because you’re the only person who I can trust to actually spend it wisely”.

 

Before Karai could react April hugged her. Karai awkwardly half hugged her back. Then she heard it. The splashing of water, coughing, the stool falling over and a door being swung open.

 

“GUYS!” Raph hollered from upstairs “GET IN HERE”.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo wakes up facing some unfortunate realities. The farmhouse has a meeting regarding the future.

* * *

April 1st, 2014 | 7:25 am

* * *

Twisted as fate always was, Leo woke up on April Fool’s Day. That was the last thought on Donnie or Mikey’s mind as they flew up the stairs. Quickly things became chaotic. The rhythm they all sank into was gone. Today was simultaneously the most dreaded and anticipated event.

 

April, Casey and Karai were at least all level headed enough to realize, all four brothers cramming themselves into a bathroom was going to be tight enough. Though they all badly wanted to see Leo, or at least see what was going on. Karai, feeling it was appropriate used her superior hearing to tell April and Casey what was going on, narrated what was happening.

 

From what she could hear Leo was definitely awake and conscious. Even talking to his brothers and replying to questions. He didn’t know where he was. He got the date wrong. He said his fingers felt pruney. Mikey won’t stop hugging him. Raph is hyperventilating. Donnie told him to shut up so he can listen to Leo’s heart. Leo wants to know why everyone is freaking out. Donnie is telling Raph to come down and get April.

 

Raph came down the stairs “Hey April is it possible you have either some old toothbrushes or a bristle brush?”

 

“Uh what kind?” April asked urgently.

 

“One that can get wet?”

 

“It would help if I knew what you needed it to do” April didn’t like vague responses it seemed.

 

Raph twisted his face a little “Uh...one that would be best used to scrub algae off a shell”

 

“Ah” April walked away to go fetch that.

 

“Can we see him?” Casey blurted out. It only just now occured to Karai that she wasn’t exactly sure how close or not close Leo and Casey were. But Casey’s tone seemed urgent and excited.

 

“No, not yet” Raph looked back up the stairs “Donnie wants to clean him up...a lot...and then wants to move him to a bed”.

 

Karai stopped listening something upstairs grabbed her attention. Leo's heart beat had gone up severely. The water was splashing a little. Donnie and Mikey were asking him what was wrong. Donnie told him, no, yelled at him, to stop hitting his legs. It sounded like they grabbed his arms. Leo said quietly, barely loud enough for her to hear, that he can’t feel them.

 

Karai squeezed her eyes shut. April came back with a few bristle brushes and Karai slithered away from the staircase. She slithered out onto the porch. April and Casey sat on the foot of the stairs. She decided not to share the last thing she had heard.

 

Maybe she had misheard him. Or his legs had fallen asleep from the three month long soak.

 

* * *

April 1st, 2014 | 11:15 am

* * *

 Leo may have came out of his coma, but after the tiring ordeal of moving him from the tub to the bedroom across the hall, he was asleep. The only one aside from a turtle who had seen him was April, because everyone agreed she was the “superior bed setter upper”, a phrase Mikey claimed to have invented. She had expertly put together a nice bed with clean sheets and still firm, barely used pillows for Leo. Who was asleep before he was even in the bed.

 

Donnie, Raph, and Mikey did not share what Leo had said about his legs. Though Mikey looked visibly worried. Karai figured it was another personal thing, another family thing. She suppressed an eye roll. While April and Casey practically clawed at the three turtles for information, she had decided to go to sleep.

 

 _I’m starting to say I’m sleeping more than I am sleeping._ Once in her room she could still hear Donnie and Raph avoiding questions. She could also hear two different heart beats upstairs. Mikey was glued to Leo’s side.

 

She definitely wasn’t hiding in here away from them. She wasn’t.

 

Casey and April interacted with the turtles differently. Karai wondered of it was because of the circumstance of their first meeting. April was rescued by the turtles, they quickly became like family members to her. Casey had started a fight with Raph, followed Raph home, almost got destroyed by a family of mutants. Yet Leo referred to Casey like he was an adopted little brother. Karai’s first experience with mutants had been with Leo, and she had immediately been fascinated by him. Both in the fact that he was a mutant, and also that he was a very skilled ninja.

 

Karai feared she was always one far to personal question away from being pushed out by them. She was constantly on thin ice. She had some safety nets. Mikey really liked her. _Mikey likes everyone_. April was on good terms with her. Raph tolerated her, Donnie hated her, and Casey flirted with her. Though Casey’s flirting was mostly jokes where the punchline involves something related to snakes.

 

Raph and Casey were best friends and it seemed Raph still was keeping things to his chest about his family. She could hear him out there, avoiding Casey like he was a pesky wife demanding to know where Raph had been all night. Outside of the circumstances, it would have been funny.

 

She went over to the tank Mr. Tubbs still resided in and lifted the screen. She took the Chinese Cobra out with ease and as she usually did, Mr. Tubbs settled around her shoulders. To imagine the same cobra had her barricading herself in a bathroom three months ago was odd. Three months ago was a lifetime away it seemed.

 

Casey and April accidentally set off a fight between Raph and Donnie. Karai knew from Leo that Raph was second oldest, but Donnie was smarter than them all combined. To listen to them argue about what they will be doing next was stressful. Donnie was the leader in Karai’s opinion. He was always checking in on everyone. He was the one to talk finances with April. In a way April was also a leader. Either way one thing was certain, if both Donnie and April wanted “it” done, whatever “it” was, got done.

 

Karai left the farmhouse, and headed into the woods, letting the yelling fade into the background. Mr. Tubbs quickly flopping his tongue as they walked, taking in all the scents.

 

* * *

April 1st, 2014 | 8:03 pm

* * *

 When Karai did return it was getting late the sun was setting, she slithered into the farmhouse with Mr. Tubbs and was immediately approached by Donnie, who was mad.

 

“Where have you been?”

 

“In the woods, going for a walk.” Karai looked past Donnie into the room, everyone but Raph was down in the first floor of the farmhouse. “Why?”

 

“Why?” Donnie asked rhetorically “because when we told Leo you were here, only to find you were gone we-”

 

“-we thought you bailed!” Casey finished Donnie’s sentence.

 

“I-” she tried to begin. She now noticed how upset Mikey looked. _They hadn’t seriously thought she’d just leave right?_

 

“You gave April five fucking g’s and then tell us you are going to sleep only to actually be gone!” Casey continued over her. Not letting her sneak an explanation in.

 

Something in her ignited “Don’t give me that shit. You sneak off with Raph more times than I go for undocumented walks”.

 

Casey visibly paled. Donnie took the silence as an opening “that’s not comparable, them sneaking off to get drunk during a lull is one thing, you leaving in the middle of this-”

 

“This what? This shit show? You and Raph unzipping your pants and comparing who’s is bigger?” Karai wasn’t pulling punches now. She felt Mr. Tubbs shift on her, uneasy from her yelling.

 

Donnie didn’t have a retort but April did “Leave him alone!” she snapped “If it weren’t for Donnie Leo would be dead”.

 

“I’m sorry O’Neil did I hurt your boyfriend’s ego by pointing out the obvious?” a condescending tone dripping off her lips.

 

“Don’t talk to her like that!” Donnie snapped. “And Raph and I aren’t competing”.

 

“Yeah you are!” Mikey said with a scowl on his face “You two talk about being the leader now like Leo doesn’t even matter!”

 

“There are reasons we are having those conversations Mi-”

 

“Oh, care to share?” Karai interrupted him. Eyes like daggers. “Or is that between you three?”

 

“It doesn’t concern you” Donnie yelled at her before turning to Mikey and yelling “We’ll talk in private about th-”

 

“What about how Leo can’t feel his legs?” Karai sneered. April and Casey both gasped. “Yeah, I heard that this morning”

 

“And then you ran off” Donnie shot back. Having recovered quickly.

 

“I went for a fucking walk!” Karai and Donnie were inches apart. She almost wanted an excuse for a fight.

 

It was at that moment Raph had appeared in front of her forcibly pushing the two of them away. She hadn’t even registered him coming down the stairs.

 

She could tell he was seething. That silent angry that was more intimidating than yelling and slamming things. Raph was angry for someone else.

 

“Shut the fuck up. All of ya.” He said at a normal volume.

 

Donnie began to speak and Raph just held up a hand “No”. Raph looked at Karai, angry. “How dare you”.

 

“How dare I what” she tried to sound tough, brave, but Raph was big and this wasn’t blind rage in his eyes. Her voice shook under it.

 

“How dare you use what you ova heard this morning as a weapon”

 

Karai stared back at him confused.

 

“You have no respect for privacy”

 

_What?_

 

“Did it even occur to you that maybe that’s why we don’t trust you?” Raph added.

 

Karai felt a pit in her stomach.

 

“You use what you know, to hurt people”. Raph looked sad and he pointed up the stairs “and the person you just hurt, can’t even come down here to tell ya”.

 

Karai didn’t respond. Her mind raced.

 

Raph laughed a little “Why do you think the worst you have on us is stupid little stories from when we were kids?”

 

The gears turned in her head.

 

“Unlike you, Leo has respect for his family and his friends” Raph smiled meanly “Leo knows you better than you know yourself. You’re a kunoichi first, and a decent person last. So he keeps you occupied with little tales from our childhood”.

 

 _Fuck you._ “Yeah, well I wouldn’t take character advice from a guy who slits his own wrists.”

 

 _Why did I say that?_ The silence was heavy as she slithered past Raph and Donnie into her bedroom. _There goes the ice._

 

* * *

2004

* * *

When she was eight, Karai was attending a high end private school with other Japanese children. In her little school uniform and tidy book bag she waved to the intern that had dropped her off as she climbed the steps.

 

Same as everyday she sat behind another little girl who had little red scratches all the way from her wrist to her elbow. Karai would see her at her desk giving herself papercuts until the teacher would come and stop her. She would cry and sob and say she’s sorry and then was taken away by a soft spoken counselor. The first time it happened Karai was curious, but it was now a weekly spectacle and rumored by the other children that the girl did it to go home early.

 

Later that day Karai would be walking to the library and pass the counselor’s office to see the girl sitting happily in a chair swinging her legs. Fresh bandages on her arms and a lollipop in her hand. The little girls bag at her feet all packed. Her mom would come and pick her up.

 

Karai would sneer and continue walking.

 

The little girl would be called a cry baby, mommas girl, a plethora of mean names. A boy drew a picture of all his classmates and made the little girls arms red and put deep blue tears on her face.

 

Of course some would gather around her in the years to come as the girl got older. She had quite the herd of sympathetic followers handing her tissues and giving her part of their lunch in attempts to make her feel better.

 

Karai would sneer and eat by herself. The daughter of Oroku Saki, had no time for friends. She went to school, she trained, she would be everything her father wanted her to be.

 

When she was thirteen a letter was sent out, her classmate had commited suicide. Finally Karai had said exasperated much to the horror of her nanny. The woman scolded her saying she had known the girl, the one who had been cutting her arms all these years. Her mother had been battling brain cancer.

 

To which Karai shrugged and responded that was all? Her mother died? Karai returned to her breakfast. That girl had been weak she told her nanny, it was fitting the weak would die.

 

Karai’s mother had died when she was an infant.

 

Her first kill was at age seven.

 

Her father smacked her for incorrect katas.

 

Her father starved her for rebelling.

 

Her father fondled her when he was sad about her mom being dead.

 

Her father expected her to do whatever it took to be a deadly weapon.

 

Why would she ever feel sorry for the little girl with the cuts down her arms over something as small and insignificant as her mother dying? Karai had persevered against far worse with no help.

 

* * *

April 2nd, 2014 | 8:00 am

* * *

Mikey was the first to approach her after the blow out the next morning. _Of course if was Mikey, who else would it be?_ Karai glanced over at him, and he looked at her and smiled.

 

“Hey Karai” he sat down on his bed across from hers. It reminded Karai of how mothers in after school specials would be seen sitting down in their daughters rooms to talk about boys. She stared at him. His smile didn’t even budge.

 

 _Uhg_ “Hello Mikey” Karai tried to hide the shake in her voice.

 

“Leo wants to see you” he said “but no one else wanted to come and get you, so…”

 

Karai nodded and slithered out of the bedroom. Mikey followed her. That really should have been her first clue that something was amiss.

 

She slithered up the stairs and the door to the bedroom Leo was in was already ajar. Inside the room was much larger than the bathroom. It was large enough that everyone could actually comfortably sit around the room. Mikey came in after her and closed the door. Karai took in the scene before her. Leo was in bed, of course. He was propped up on some pillows, a thick layer of blankets over him, his eyes were closed but his heartbeat and breathing suggested he was awake. To his right April sat on a kitchen chair. To his left Donnie sat on another kitchen chair. Next to Donnie sat Casey and next to April sat Raph. There were two empty chairs. Mikey walked in past her and sat down next to Donnie. He then patted the chair between him and Raph for her to come sit.

 

 _This was it. Here it comes. They’re kicking me out._ She slithered to the chair, moved it to the side of the room and spun into a coil where the chair was. Everyone except Leo had at first looked at her confused but then seemed to realize all at once Karai really couldn’t “sit” anymore.

 

“Okay” Raph said nodding and looking around the circle before saying to Leo “Everyone’s here”.

 

Leo opened his eyes and glanced around the room. Karai felt bad, he looked drained. “Okay” his voice was rough and quiet but everyone could hear him in the silence of the room “I guess this is our first family meeting, anyone want to start?”

 

There was something awkwardly formal about this. “If I may?” April asked the circle and when no one said anything different she began “you guys didn’t exactly explain what this is” she looked across Leo’s bed at Donnie.

 

“When things were stressful as kids. As in all of us were mad at each other, Sensei would hold family meetings so we could work out our...issues. And right now...we’re having issues.”

 

Leo nodded in agreement “Alright, who has some issues they’d like to discuss”

 

Everyone was silent.

 

“Okay, I’ll go first” Leo said. Everyone including Karai was a bit surprised “For one, I have been in a bathtub for three months and not one of you has filled me in on what has happened.”

 

“Oh!” Mikey piped up “Dibs! I’ll tell you all about it!”

 

“Alright” Donnie said. “I’m writing it down, Mikey will bring Leo up to date” Karai now saw the pad of paper and pencil in Donnie’s possession.

 

Leo continued “I have another issue” this time Leo swallowed and started to play with his fingers twiddling them “I can’t feel my legs, and I can’t, I can’t move them”.

 

“I feel I, as the self appointed family doctor should explain” Donnie butted in “Leo can’t move his toes and his feeling from mid thigh down is non-existent”

 

“Permanently?” Casey asked.

 

“We don’t know, we are mutants, he could heal”

 

“But if I don’t-”

 

“Don’t say that Leo.” Raph stopped him.

 

“No, I have to. I can’t lead you from a bed”.

 

“I can continue being the temporary leader” Donnie reassured Leo.

 

Leo grimaced “I don’t think that’s a good plan, you should be focusing on what we need to do in order to get back into New York”.

 

“But I’ve been doing fine while you were in a coma” Donnie argued.

 

“You were spread to far thin” Leo replied calmly “focus on how we are going to save New York, Raph is the leader now”

 

Raph nodded at Leo in acceptance. Donnie wrote it down.

 

The meeting went on for who knows how long. Karai didn’t say anything, she just listened. At the end Casey was mumbling something about lunch. Karai found herself alone with Mikey and Leo.

 

“You aren’t cooking?” Leo joked at Mikey “Are you feeling okay?” Leo closed his eyes again, he sounded exhausted.

 

“Dude, I can cook any day of the week but we have like three months worth of stories to get through!” Mikey exclaimed. He dragged the stool closer to Leo’s bed. The kitchen chairs had been carried away when everyone else left the room. “Karai, I’m going to need you to stay and help tell stories”

 

She looked at him surprised “Oh?”.

 

“Yeah! Come on over” Mikey smiled and turned to Leo “Okay you want this in chronological order or the wild ones first?”

 

Leo tapped his chin, “how about how Karai ended up here?” He asked. Then he looked right at her and she felt like she was going to hurl.

 

But instead she sighed “I don’t exactly think I’ll be staying here”.

 

“Wait why?” Leo asked. Sounding alarmed.

 

“Because I already fucked it up” she moaned “It had been going so well two and a half months and then...I just fucked it all up”.

 

“You mean last night?” Mikey asked.

 

“Yeah, you were there Mikey” she was annoyed “I should of bolted last night”.

 

“Oh the fight?” Mikey asked.

 

“What fight?” Leo looked at Mikey questioningly.

 

“It’s a long story” Mikey dismissed Leo “Karai don’t worry about it”.

 

“They aren’t mad at me?”

 

“What? Oh, no, yeah they are super pissed.” Mikey corrected.

 

“Someone explain to me what is going on-”

 

“I thought this weird fucking chair circle was going to be you guys kicking me out!”

 

“What? Dude, I mean dudette, no. Yeah they’re mad, but what family isn’t like pissed at each other sometimes?”

 

Karai blinked “Family?”

 

“Yeah, families fight” Mikey added slowly.

 

Leo interrupted “I know nothing but Karai, you’re family now”.

 

“And families fight. And last night we fought. And today we’ll be angry. But eventually it will be okay” Mikey smiled.

 

Leo nodded “Yeah. Now someone tell me what happened”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it goes without being said, but I'll say it just in case: I do not share Karai's opinions towards self harm. I don't believe people who cut themselves or abuse themselves are doing it for attention.
> 
> And spoiler, eventually Karai will understand that too.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If the outcome is the same, what's the difference between convincing someone and tricking them?

* * *

 April 18th, 2014 | 2:00 pm

* * *

 Donnie built a wheelchair.

 

Karai was still in shock. Sure she had seen the lights flickering in the barn. But the prospect of someone overnight building a wheelchair from scratch was nuts.

 

Mikey tested it out. He did not wait for anyone to explain how to use a wheelchair. He also didn’t bail out of the wheelchair when it started going down a hill heading straight for the treeline.

 

In other news Donnie’s wheelchair was sturdy. It had survived Mikey, so if would definitely be capable of handling a much less active turtle.

 

“He’s not going to get in that” Raph stated, sucking any sense of accomplishment Donnie had from completing his task.

 

“He’ll be happy!”

 

“No he won’t Donnie, he doesn’t want a wheelchair, he wants to be able to move his legs again”

 

The conversation was taking place in the barn. The barn was the only place the turtles could talk about Leo, with the certainty that Leo would not hear them. Raph’s point was in Karai’s mind valid, even though she was avoiding Leo her hearing wasn’t spared the constant questions over the state of his legs.

 

Karai wasn’t in the barn. She was stagnate next to the door outside the barn. They knew she was there, it wasn’t eavesdropping. But in her stomach she felt a knot of self hatred, this wasn’t a conversation for her ears.

 

The farmhouse was filled with joy and optimism. The barn was where everyone vented their real feelings. The survivor’s guilt. The fear of Leo never walking again. How uncertain the future was. The looming elephant in the room no one was addressing: The Krang. How long before the capture and take over of New York City became New York State, then the east coast, then America and so on.

 

Leo had been awake for seventeen days. She had avoided him since the family talk with him and Mikey. She’d slip in sometimes, to say goodnight. She took over once for Raph while Leo was asleep, but he’d been asleep the whole time. Another mystery that wasn’t really a mystery was the constant surveillance of Leo. April and Casey questioned it, and were met with walls, Raph gave non-responses, Donnie would explain a medical reason, and Mikey would avoid the questions under the guise of he was doing what Raph and Donnie wanted him to do.

 

Karai had sussed it out.

 

She’d taken note that the only clothes Leo wore were just that: cloths. The light gray wrapping on his hands and forearms. They were on him during the family meeting. Raph had confirmed to her that Leo was a cutter.

 

Raph had called them “battle scars”. If Karai rolled her eyes any harder they’d get stuck up there.

 

Leo was being watched because his brothers didn’t want him to hurt himself again. She had heard Leo ask where his blades were, the small sharp knives he kept under his wrappings. He wanted them back.

 

“For protection” Leo had said.

 

“We’ll protect you” Raph argued.

 

“But-” he had started.

 

“Leo...don’t make us tell you why” Donnie had said solemnly shutting down anymore pleas from Leo.

 

Leo didn’t ask for them again. Karai wished she could turn off her enhanced hearing. Though, hearing everything came with advantages. _“You use what ya know, to hurt people”_ Raph’s voice rang in her head. It was enough for her to slither away from the barn. Donnie was using a damp rag to clean up the wheelchair before presenting it to Leo. Still hell bent on showing Raph that Leo would be overjoyed to have the mobility of it.

 

Yesterday, halfway through dinner, Donnie suddenly got up after shouting “Eureka!” and left for the barn. His sudden idea had been the wheelchair. That was the version she overheard April tell Raph anyways. That was how she got the majority of her information. Overheard this from that. Locking it up in a little box in her mind. _Fuck Raph, information can be worth more than its weight in gold._

 

Karai decides to ignore the fact that verbal words literally have no weight, it’s a saying, not a law of physics.

 

She promised Leo, and Mikey by association, that she would stick around. She didn’t promise them she’d make an effort to be nice, or connect, or do any of the other stupid shit they did. Karai was on the outskirts, where she fit in best. It wasn’t for her. Family wasn’t for her. And caring wasn’t either. In fact Karai was a bonafide expert at avoiding every single confrontation since the blowout fight. She could hear footsteps, so she could be out of a room or area before anyone caught wind of her. Luckily the only person, well turtle, who could maybe get the drop on her was bed bound. The only upside to Leo’s less than ideal situation.

 

For that matter what did she care if Leo did or did not use his wheelchair. Why was she risking her scales snooping around the barn for updates on Leo. _What do I care if he walks again or not_. That made her cringe, but she pushed the feeling away. She didn’t care.

 

It was because she didn’t care she coiled herself below Leo’s window as Raph and Donnie carried the wheelchair up to him. She listened for them to knock, and for April and Casey to say “wow” and Leo to stay silent as the wheelchair was brought in.

 

Leo didn’t say anything as Mikey retold how he had tested out the chair. He didn’t even acknowledge any of Donnie’s instructions on where the brake lever was. How he custom made the grips of the wheels for their mutant hands to fit better.

 

All Leo said, so quiet and defeated that Karai was unsure if anyone in the room with him heard “I thought you said it wasn’t permanent”.

 

Karai supposed it was a logical assumption. A wheelchair could be Donnie’s way of easing Leo into the idea of him being forever unable to walk. At first everyone else was convincing Leo he would get better. Then it turned into “let’s not cross that bridge until we come to it” and then it was Leo desperately telling himself he’d walk again. Donnie wasn’t a doctor. Though it seemed like he was keeping his cards close to his chest. Which only made Karai want a view of his hand even more. A forbidden fruit complex.

 

* * *

April 18th, 2014 | 8:30 pm

* * *

She woke up that night under the bed. It was Raph who’d disturbed her awake and waited for her to come out. “We’re doing smores, like last time”.

 

“Okay” her voice was surprising scratchy. Karai tried to think back to the last time she’d verbally talked to someone. The family meeting? A passing word to someone? She wasn’t sure.

 

“We need you to convince Leo to join us” Raph wasn’t beating around the bush.

 

 _What?_ “Now you want me to talk to Leo?”

 

“No, I don’t actually” Raph said with an exaggerated huffed “but everyone else does”.

 

Karai didn’t move. She didn’t like Raph. There was nothing to be gained by doing him this favor. “I take it the wheelchair didn’t go over well”.

 

“Alright, forget I asked” Raph turned to leave.

 

 _Fuck_. “Wait” she slithered after him almost running into him when he suddenly stopped “I’ll-I’ll talk to him”.

 

Raph just stood to the side and let her go through the door ahead of him. She slithered up the stairs, and into Leo’s room. Mikey was already in there, and what Karai overheard as she came in was his failing attempts to get Leo outside.

 

“Not happening Mikey, that’s humiliating” Leo asserted.

 

“Come on, it’s like when we were kids and would give each other piggyback rides”

 

“Ehem” Karai fake coughed “Uh...Raph wants me to talk to you?”

 

Mikey got up “Well finally!” and he left the room, all too eagerly. _That’s odd, normally he’d stay._

 

“I’m not going outside for smores” Leo said immediately.

 

“Okay” Karai slithered in the room.

 

Leo furrowed his brow “Okay?”

 

“What? I’m not here to get Rapunzel out of her castle”. It was hard holding her composure as Leo’s face went from confusion to shock then finally the insult kicking in.

 

“What, I am not acting like a princess!”

 

“Could of fooled me, now let down your hair, and go eat some fucking smores”.

 

Leo’s face went to a turtle version of a resting bitch face “You woke up on the wrong side of the bed”.

 

Karai laughed “I woke up under the bed, I’ll have you know”.

 

Leo didn’t laugh.

 

“Oh for fuck’s sake, just go outside” Karai wasn’t in the mood for this “Raph made me do this, and you aren’t making it easy”.

 

Leo hummed “So you’re only here because Raph made you come and talk to me? That’s nice”.

 

“Oh stop it” Karai snapped “This is why I haven’t been up here, you’re miserable to be around”.

 

“Sorry this isn’t take out on a rooftop Karai” Leo shot back.

 

“I’m not asking it to be, I’m asking it to be smores in the backyard with a bunch of people who hate me”

 

Leo frowned “They don’t hate you”.

 

“Uh, yeah, they fucking do”.

 

Leo played with his fingers and the edges of his wrappings.

 

“Just, go down there, so I can go back to sleeping” she replied flatly. “Or you know what, I don’t care, I didn’t say I would actually get you outside so, bye”.

 

She slithered towards the door.

 

“I’ll go outside if you come with me”.

 

She stopped. It was a tempting offer. She could appease Raph by getting Leo outside at the price of being forced to be around them all.

 

“No deal” Karai said still facing the door “Suck it up and go be with your family tonight, they need you”.

 

“You’re family too”

 

She spun around on him. It was a fear tactic. She was hoping he’d take back the words, but he stared her down instead. Daring her to question it or refute it.

 

She dared. “I’m not family” she hissed “Stop trying to make this” she pointed at the floor “more than a temporary living situation”.

 

Leo stared at her, Karai stared back. The atmosphere was intense, and heavy with emotion. Leo hadn’t been this set since Karai had attacked April. Except now it was just “the face”. The “leader face”. _Shit it was working._

 

She broke eye contact. “Fine, one time”.

 

Leo didn’t smile, or rub it in, but Raph came in at that moment. Karai didn’t realize he was even in the hall.

 

“Okay Leo” Raph helped pull back the covers and sat him up “Donnie will meet us at the end of the staircase” he helped Leo swing his limp legs to the side of the bed. He squatted down, grabbed Leo’s legs and waited for Leo to securely grab onto his shoulders. “Ready?”

 

“Uh...Yeah” Leo said trying to hide the uncertainty in his voice as he held tightly to the back of Raph’s shell. It was an odd sight, a mutant turtle piggyback ride.

 

Raph stood up, carrying Leo past Karai and she followed them out the the room and down the stairs. Donnie at the ready with the wheelchair for Raph to ease Leo down into. There were bruises speckled all over Leo’s legs. Mutant hand prints. It looked like Leo had been grabbing his own legs in various places so tightly it caused bruises. Unlike human bruises they look brown more than blue or purple. This was the first time she’d seen his legs bare. For the most part Leo laid in bed with a blanket over his legs at the very least. His brothers would have seen his legs bare. They were the ones helping him to the toilet. It explained why Mikey handed Leo a throw blanket from the living room couch and he put it over his legs without comment.

 

“I installed a ramp, so we can test that out on the way to the fire pit” Donnie said pushing Leo along.

 

Karai followed, something about this didn’t sit right with her. If this were a mission she would have double back. The feeling she was missing something nagged at her. The turtles seemed happy to see Leo outside of the bedroom he’d been holed up in since awakening. April and Casey cheered as the crowd of mutants approached the fire pit.

 

April jumped up and ran over to Leo and gave him a hug. She squealed “you came out for smores!”

 

Leo smiled and shrugged “Yeah, sounded good after all I guess”.

 

What had been Leo’s objection to this in the first place? She squinted at him.

 

They readjusted the circle. Someone, probably Casey, had found the perfect sticks to roast marshmallows on. When Casey handed her one, she took it without argument. She had coiled herself next to Leo’s wheelchair, keeping some distance between them. Busying herself with what the fuck happened between her nap and now holding a fucking marshmallow.

 

She gave Leo a side glance and he looked away quickly.

 

His brothers and human friends had the pleasure of seeing Karai slither around for three months. Her snake body was no longer stared at when they thought she wasn’t looking. Karai never took offense. The first mirror she’d come across as a mutant she had spent a long time in front of. But Leo was still in the discrete stare phase. The last time he saw her she had nearly killed his father, who was also her real father, and then slithered away with half her mind intact. Of course he was staring.

 

 _Of course, he is probably disgusted with me_.

 

She twisted the marshmallow onto the stick and hovered it above the fire. The turtles talked. They made jokes, most of what they were talking about Karai had been there for. If was retellings of Karai releasing a Chinese Cobra on the farmhouse. The various shenanigans Mikey had caused. Casey removing a bat from the attic which somehow resulted in catching his own pants on fire.

 

As their night came to a close, sugar sick setting in. Everyone packed up. Karai even folded up a lawn chair before silently slithering into the woods. Making sure her exit was unnoticed. Tonight she wanted to hunt. She needed to hunt. Because in a way that would feel like the first normal thing she’s done all week.

 

* * *

 April 19th, 2014 | 1:00 am

* * *

It was a full moon. Karai didn’t like full moons. She could see in the dark. The deer weren’t blind in the dark but the darker it was, the more likely she was to get a doe. She had a preference for female deer. No antlers. She could digest antlers, but they didn’t always digest completely. Karai decided her new anatomical situation downstairs was complicated as it was. Passing bones through an orifice she barely understood was traumatic on its own.

 

True, she could break the antlers off, or maybe not eat the entire deer. But she craved everything on the herbivore. Vaguely, she remembered in horror her journey to the farm house, she had cornered a deer. Injured, shot through the eye. The wound was days old. She could feel the creatures agony. The instinct to strike out at the buck, coil around him and sink her teeth into the animals soft neck overtook her. Under it all she gagged. The buck was dirty, and alive, and not cooked. The animal squirmed under her as she coiled tighter, every panicked jerk and scream the deer gave Karai returned with a tighter grip. When the deer lay lifeless in her grasp she ripped it’s throat out with her fangs. She grabbed the opening on the exposed throat and ripped the deer open, blood spilling on the January snow. The metallic rot clawing at her sinuses. Her conscience screaming that this was barbaric.

 

She shook the memory off. Her first kill as a snake had been messy, and it had been driven by starvation. Now she was neater, more organized. She was equipped with a hunting knife, she had a tarp to cut the deer into manageable pieces on. It was a delicate compromise between the reptile in her that wanted to swallow the animals whole, and the human kunoichi in her that wanted her kill to be dignified. It needed to be neat, done with precision. The animals she took now were killed quickly. They would never be slowly strangled to death by her again.

 

Karai slithered into a clearing, seeing her target. An old Doe, sleeping soundly. Silent and without a worry. Karai was on the deer before it could make a noise, slitting her throat and holding her head back to keep the cut open. The blood pooled into the forest floor sinking into the ground. No tarp for her impromptu hunt so the blood would attract coyotes, the wind would carry the metallic tang complicating her art. Karai listened intently, She could hear them. Padded paws coming from her right flank.

 

This was her Doe, and she wanted it all.

 

She hefted the deer over her shoulder and cringed knowing she would somehow need to bathe before going back to the farmhouse now. A problem for her future self she snarked. Finding a sturdy tree, she slithered up it. She knew she was leaving a blood trail, it didn’t matter, coyotes couldn’t climb trees. _So much for being neat_ . She got to work with her knife cutting out chunks of her Doe and barely chewing them. The longest part about the hunt was actually eating. She cut off a strip from the Doe’s front leg, hide and all. She swallowed the long strip whole. Blood slick on her hands. In the moonlight on top of this tree, her tail coiled around a dead doe. _I’m a fucking mess._

 

* * *

2012

* * *

_“How could you?” Leo spat. He had gotten the jump on her. Finding her patrolling on her own. In reality she had procrastinated on reporting back to her father._

 

_She had spun to greet him, a twisted smile on her face. “Hey freak, miss me so much you came and found me?” she teased. Hiding the limp she had from April pushing her down a flight of stairs._

 

_“I trusted you” he continued._

 

_It clicked “Oh is this about the little redhead?” Karai taunted._

 

_“You will never touch April again” Leo seethed._

 

_“Hmm. Scary. We’ll see” Karai replied coldly as Leo’s temper rose._

 

_He unsheathed his katanas. “You will never touch April again” he repeated. His voice leveling out. A calm washed over him._

 

_Karai smiled “Make me” she drew her short blade and they circled each other._

 

_“I thought we were friends” Leo drew closer tightening the circle._

 

_“You were wrong”_

 

* * *

April 19th, 2014 | 1:15 am

* * *

The coyotes jump at the trunk of the tree below. Karai took pity on them, she decapitated the Doe and threw the head down for them. They scrambled over each other. Clawing at the Doe’s face, ripping it’s ears off.

 

She used the serrated part of her hunting knife to saw through bone. Chewing on the Doe’s front leg bone now, sucking on the marrow that for some sick disgusting reason she craved.

 

* * *

2012

* * *

_Leo had flipped her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. She recovered fast, kicking his legs out from under him and bringing him to the ground. She’d twisted one katana away from him, it was somewhere in the alley below. She still had her short blade._

 

_“I have orders” she yelled as she dodged Leo’s fist._

 

_“Don’t follow them” he yelled back._

 

_Their fight continued. It was messy. She had a cut on her thigh. It burned with every step. Her pants were black so she couldn’t tell how much it was bleeding. Leo had cuts and bruises on his arms. Blocking most of Karai’s attacks with his own flesh._

 

_The katas, the advanced fighting maneuvers devolved into a low level fist fight. “I have a family to protect” he said twisting her short sword out of her hands._

 

_“Don’t protect them” she seethed._

 

* * *

April 19th, 2014 | 1:25 am

* * *

The coyotes made carking noises below. Clawing at the trunk having stripped the Doe’s skull of edible flesh. They were dogs begging for kitchen scraps.

 

* * *

2012

* * *

_He had her pinned now. “Say it” he growled._

 

_She tried to push him off, but Leo was heavy. Karai had never given thought to how much their shells alone weighed. “Get off me freak!” she yelled._

 

_“Say it” he pushed down harder on her, he had her short blade against her neck._

 

_“Fuck” she gasped “Fine. I’ll leave the bitch alone!”_

 

_Leo got off her. Leaving her panting on the ground. Bile threatening to explode out of her mouth with every exhale._

 

_Leo stood wavering a few feet away. Breathing hard, he rubbed his face and picked up his katana._

 

_“Aren’t you going to finish the job?” she yelled._

 

_Leo looked down at her “I’m not going to kill you” he pointed his katana at her “unless you touch April again”._

 

_He was missing her point. “Come on freak, you pinned me down just to make idle threats?”_

 

_Leo looked hurt for a moment, she figured she had imagined it. “I’m a freak, not a monster”. He jump down off the roof and retrieved his other katana. By the time she crawled to the side of the rooftop to look down, he was gone._

 

* * *

April 19th, 2014 | 9:10 am

* * *

She woke up in the tree. The Doe was gone. She had ate most of it, she was thirsty and sticky with blood. Luckily the coyotes were gone as well. She slithered down the tree and smelled the air. There was a lake nearby. She could easily use that to bathe off in. Staying low to the ground she slithered towards the fresh water. Her body was like a fluid rope, effortlessly gliding over rocks and fallen trees.

 

Karai didn’t miss walking anymore.

 

It had taken some time to get used to, but her legs had only gotten her in trouble before. The Shredder had always told her she had her mother’s legs.

 

Her mother’s ass too.

 

Her heart jump, remembering the little compliments he’d thrown her. She felt sick again. The lake was in sight but she couldn’t move. _Not now not now._ She tightened around herself. _Just go to the lake, then go to the farmhouse_.

 

The forest was silent, amplifying the sound of her own heart in her ears. The panic was setting in. She couldn’t breathe. Her chest wouldn’t move.

 

* * *

2012

* * *

  _"You failed to take down a teenager with no training.” The Shredded stated calmly._

 

_“Yes, father” she said to the floor she was kneeled on._

 

_“And she had a weapon?” The Shredder continued._

 

_“No, father”._

 

_“Then what is the meaning of this?” He was referring to the cuts and abrasions caused by Leo._

 

_“I had a run in with one of the turtles, father”._

 

_“Which one?” he pressed._

 

_“I cannot tell them apart” she lied._

 

_The Shredder stood up suddenly causing Karai to flinch. He walked over to her kneeled down and grabbed her by the neck. She grabbed onto his forearms as she was being lifted to her feet. He smiled as she choked out cries of pain._

 

_On the tips of her toes “So it was Leo then?” The Shredder said quietly inches away from her face. “The rats golden boy?”_

 

_“N-no” Karai choked out clawing at The Shredder’s arms tear welling in her eyes “I-I don’t kn-know they all-”_

 

_“Silence!” He yelled in her face “Do not lie to me!”_

 

_Karai whined as the grip on her neck tightened “It was Leo!” she spat out. He dropped her. She fell into a heap on the ground. Her limbs were lead._

 

_The Shredder paced infront of her. “You disappoint me, Karai”._

 

_“I’m sorry, father.” Karai said massaging her neck._

 

_He looked down at her “You know what happens when you disappoint me.”_

 

_Karai swallowed “Yes, father”._

 

* * *

April 19th, 2014 | 9:40 am

* * *

The water was cold. She scrubbed the palm of her hands over her arms. Rubbing away the dried on blood. She had taken her shirt off and tried her best to clean it in the water. She wrung it out and laid it on a rock along with her bra.

 

The lake was secluded. But she kept the water up to her neck. The spot she was at had to be ten feet deep, but she had at least four feet of snake tail on the floor of the lake, the rest hold her up just so her head was out of the water.

 

She put her arms in a t-formation and let herself sway gently in the water. The clean and cold water. Taking deep breaths. _Maybe Mikey could teach me how to meditate or some shit._

 

* * *

April 19th, 2014 | 10:55 am

* * *

Returning to the farmhouse was uneventful. Raph, Casey, Donnie and Mikey weren’t there when she arrived. It was the perfect opportunity to crawl under her bed, and sleep. The tree she had slept in had not been comfortable. The lake had been more fun, she had even grabbed a fish that was dumb enough to swim right into her. Mr. Tubbs would eat like a King tonight.

 

Curiosity got the better of her as she silently proceeded towards the stairs case and listened. April and Leo were talking. Of course they were, April was the only one around to babysit him.

 

“It worked though” Leo said sounding happy, it was uncommon given how emo he was over his legs.

 

April sighed “I didn’t think it would work, she’s so ugh, she pushes everyone away Leo”.

 

“I know, but she’s are sister whether she likes it or not”

 

“So you think you can trick her into smores again or something?”

 

“Oh yeah” Leo paused “as long as I can get everyone to play along again”.

 

Karai’s mouth hung open. She looked up the staircase. Then at the floor. Shook her head and slithered into her room. _I need to stop eavesdropping_. Mr. Tubbs looked at her through the glass, Karai swore he was agreeing with her.

 

“What do you think Mr. Tubbs?” she asked the Cobra. “Should I be mad they tricked me? Or should I be happy?”

 

Mr. Tubbs flicked his tongue out.

 

“Yeah, you’re right, I’m never happy” she said lifting the screen top and holding the fish in front of him.

 

Mr. Tubbs striked the fish and she let go, letting him drag the fish to the corner of the tank.

  
“Good talk Mr. Tubbs” she rubbed her eyes and yawned. _Maybe I’ll sleep on the bed today_.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Donnie spills mutagen in the barn, The Creep is born.

* * *

 April 19th, 2014 | 7:40 pm

* * *

“Guys, I fucked up” Donnie came into the kitchen panicked.

 

Karai rubbed her eyes, having just woken up and literally slithered out of the room as Donnie came barging in.

 

“Karai, where’s everyone?” Donnie ran over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

 

Karai, startled, blurted out what she could “April’s with Leo. Raph, Mikey and Casey are gone”.

 

“Fuck!” Donnie yelled as he pushed her to the side and ran up the stairs. Instead of following, Karai listened as April told Donnie she didn’t know where Casey or Raph was. Donnie ran back down the stairs and out of the farmhouse.

 

 _I’m too tired for this shit._ She slithered up the stairs passing April who was running after Donnie. “Donnie wait up what’s going on?” she hollered.

 

Karai entered Leo’s room to see him craning his neck trying to look out the window. “Karai what’s going on?”

 

“Your brother has learned to swear?” Karai said unconcerned.

 

“Karai this is serious” Leo snapped.

 

 _No shit_. “And?”

 

Leo rubbed his face “Uh we need to do something!”

 

“You’re the leader, you have a plan? Come on Leo he probably dropped his microscope or something how bad could it-”

 

There was a distant roar.

 

“... it be” Karai finished quietly.

 

“Karai get that wheelchair for me!” Leo pointed at the chair.

 

She stared at him “How are you going to get it down the stairs?”

 

“Crap”

 

“Maybe we should call Raph?”

 

Leo shook his head “Cell service doesn’t work out here”

 

Karai shrugged. She slithered around a little, not knowing what to do. She didn’t want to leave Leo alone now, especially not after that roar. That roar made her skin crawl.

 

Maybe ten minutes later the roar sounded again and closer. Karai heard commotion downstairs. She quickly slithered to the door and listened it was April and Donnie.

 

“It’s April and Donnie” she told Leo who was sat up in his bed.

 

She slithered into the hall and to the top of the stairs. “What’s going on what was that roaring noise we heard?”

 

April and Donnie came up the stairs and they all went into Leo’s room. Donnie stood by the window looking out at the forest. “Oh this is so bad”.

 

“Donnie what’s going on?” Leo asked.

 

April nudged Donnie’s arm “Tell them”.

 

Donnie put his face in his hands. “I spilled mutagen while working on medicine for Leo’s spine and it became a monster.”

 

No one said anything.

 

“Okay” Karai broke the silence “Where’s Casey and Raph”

 

“Probably being eaten by that monster” Donnie looked outside and moaned “He’s huge too, he looks like a farmer”.

 

“A farmer?”

 

“Yeah he was wearing overalls and he had a pitch fork” Donnie looked at April “Did a farmer die in your barn by chance?”

 

“How would I know?” April asked taken aback.

 

Donnie moaned again.

 

“Okay forget how it happened, what can we do?” Leo asked “How do we get a hold of Casey and Raph?”

 

The door slammed open “Guys there’s a flippin’ wicked cool mutant in the woods. Tried to eat my face but I los’”

 

“Casey!” They all yelled.

 

“Don’t yell at me I’m in the middle of a story, anyways there I was with Raph and BAM! Outta nowhere big green smelly mean loo-”

 

“Casey shut up we know! Where’s Raph” Donnie shouted.

 

Casey furrowed his brow looking around the room “He should be here, I took the long way to distract him, Raph was suppose to run ahead and warn you”.

 

“Well he’s not” Donnie shouted.

 

Leo held his arms up “Stop yelling, that’s not going to help we need to find Raph soon, the sun is going to be setting any second-”

 

The power went out.

 

“-any second and then..this house...will be a beacon…” Leo stopped talking. “Donnie?”

 

Donnie rubbed his face and took a deep breath. “Okay, here’s the plan. April, Casey and I will gear up, get some flas-”

 

“Hey guys what’s going-”

 

“Mikey where have you been?”

 

“In the outhouse. Did you guys hear all that roaring?” Mikey pointed toward the woods.

 

April squinted “You were in the outhouse for four hours?”

 

“Yeah” Mikey shrugged “Reminds me of home”.

 

Donnie squinted. “Okay, new plan. April, Casey, Mikey and I will get some flashlights and gear up. We’ll find Raph and then go from there!”

 

“Why is the light switch not wor-”

 

“Wait what about me?” Karai interrupted Mikey who was flipping the light switch on and off.

 

Donnie pointed at Leo. “Guard”.

 

“Guard?” Leo and Karai said together.

 

“Yes, Karai, you are to guard the turtle who can’t run or defend himself” Donnie said as he left the room with the rest of the people and mutants who had orders.

 

Karai tuned back to look at Leo who looked a little lost. “Why the face? I’m not happy about sitting here either”.

 

“Well, you have an option at least” Leo shot back.

 

Karai sighed. “What did you expect him to say? ‘Go get in your wheelchair Leo, and wheel after the roaring mutants with your katanas javelin style’”.

 

Leo smiled for a second then pushed it away “That’s not funny”

 

“Yes it is” Karai argued “I said it”.

 

“You’re just trying to make me feel better about being useless” Leo mumbled, as he started playing with his wrappings.

 

She slithered over to the window watching April and Donnie enter the woods on one side, and Mikey and Casey on the other. “I don’t care how you feel, if you're useless, suck it up” she shrugged.

 

“Can I at least have my katanas?” he asked.

 

“Yeah sure, what the hell” Karai slithered over to the closet where they hung. “You’ll never get a chance to use them you know”.

 

“Maybe not” Leo took the Katanas and laid them next to his right leg.

 

Karai slithered around the room. A snake version of pacing. “You worried I won’t be able to save you from a farmer?”

 

“It’s not that” Leo started fiddling his fingers together. “I just...I guess this is what it’s like to be...helpless”.

 

“You’re not helpless”

 

Leo laughed “I can’t move my stupid legs. I’m effed in any fight”.

 

“You can say ‘fuck’ you know, I won’t tell” Karai teased.

 

“See there you go trying to make me feel better”. Leo smiled.

 

“I’m not trying to make you do or feel anything” she paused “but if I was, and I’m not, am I?”

 

“Yeah, you are”.

 

Karai continued to slither around the room.

 

* * *

 April 19th, 2014 | 10:30 pm

* * *

“See, I don’t like this vague distant roaring” Leo said in the pitch black room.

 

Karai shushed him “I’m trying to listen, be quiet”.

 

“You can hear them?” Leo asked shocked.

 

“No, because you keeping fucking talking to me”.

 

* * *

April 19th, 2014 | 10:50 pm

* * *

“That was Mikey screaming, bring me the chair” Leo said frantically. “Karai the chair!”

 

She slithered around. “Leo...no. Mikey I think he’s screaming as bait?”

 

“Donnie is using him as bait!?”

 

“He’s good bait”

 

“He’s my baby brother!”

 

“...And?”

 

* * *

April 19th, 2014 | 10:55 pm

* * *

 “It’s too quiet”.

 

Karai kept surveying the forest from the window. “First there’s too much screaming, then there’s not enough screaming. Make up your mind”.

 

“I have” Leo asserted. “Now get the chair.”

 

Karai laughed. “Forgetting about the staircase?”

 

“Look, Donnie obviously messed up making a plan, again, we are their only hope!”

 

“Oh come on” Karai moaned. “Give him a little credit.”

 

“A little credit for making a mutant monster!?”

 

“Yeah, he made it, so he should be able to...unmake it?”

 

“Are you asking me that or telling me that?” Leo crossed his arms.

 

“Shut up”

 

There was another roar but this time it was too close. It was in the treeline. Karai slithered to the door of the room and clicked the lock.

 

“What’s going on?” Leo asked, trying to sound not scared.

 

Karai didn’t respond. She looked at the creature breaking through the treeline. “He does kind of look like a farmer” she mused with an unconcerned voice.

 

“Okay we need a plan-”

 

“The plan is to stay here.”

 

“What!?”

 

“I was put on guard duty, not attack duty-” Karai stopped abruptly. “You think Jones would...give...that walking salad his mask?”

 

“Probably not over his dead bo-”

 

“We need a plan, they’re all dead, it’s time for revenge”.

 

“What!?”

 

“Relax” Karai smiled forgetting Leo couldn’t see in the dark like she could. “I’m kidding. Well, eh, Casey’s probably dead”

 

“Get me the chair!” Leo said as the Shriveled Salad outside roared.

 

Karai rolled her eyes “Okay, Mr. Meals on Wheels”

 

Leo moaned “Just get the stupid chair!”

 

“Yeah yeah” Karai wheeled the chair over.

 

Leo grabbed the arm of it and scooted closer to the side of the bed. Karai rolled her eyes and continued to watch the monster approach the farmhouse. “He’s almost here, maybe I could go down there real quick and kill him?”

 

Leo finally had himself in the chair “Thanks for the help here Karai”.

 

“Oh, you’re welc-”

 

“I was being facetious!”

 

The monster roared and Leo grabbed his Katanas. “Alright, let’s kick some salad butt”.

 

Karai looked at him “You do realize you aren’t even pointed at the door right?”

 

Leo squinted. “Can you point me towards the door?”

 

Karai faked an amused hum. “No, you stay here, I have to something something kill a salad” she waved her hand in a circle.

 

“I’m coming with you” Leo put his Katanas on his lap and started wheeling the chair.

 

“Alright” Karai said over her shoulder as Leo wheeled into a wall “I won’t try and stop you.”

 

She slithered down the hall ignoring Leo’s complaints. The plant was at the front door. She slithered down the stairs quietly and slipped out the back of the farmhouse. She had her short blade on her, but she’d prefer a fight outside as opposed to inside the house.

 

Also it was in her interest to draw the fight away from Leo. Circling to the front of the farmhouse she saw the monster trying to pound the door down. “Hey!” she barked. My monster stopped and turned to look at her.

 

“Yeah you, you, uh stupid farmer!” Karai shouted “Come and get me!”

 

The farmer roared, and started walking towards her.

 

“That’s right ugly” Karai continued slithering backwards to keep some distance. _I just need to get him into the woods._

 

“Not so fast, Salad man!”

 

_Shit. Fuck. Crap._

 

“Leo!” Karai moaned as she watched him wheel out of the front door. _How did he even get down the staircase?_

 

The monster turned around and changed it’s pursuit to Leo.

 

 _Oh come on_. “Leo you moron!” Karai yelled as she slithered after the monster and struck him in the back. Landing the entirety of her body weight onto the creature. On the ground she decapitated it. Watching with satisfaction as the monsters head rolled away from its body.

 

“Huh that was eas-” Karai started only to watch as the monsters dismembered head soaked into the ground leaving Casey’s mask behind.

 

“Where’d he go!?” Leo asked still unable to see in the dark. “You kill him?”

 

Karai listened and looked down. _Is he growing a new hea-_

 

The monsters’ arm bent backwards and grabbed her around the waist hurling her into the sky. She landed with a thump twenty feet away from the monster. Breath knocked out of her and belly up she now realized why they hadn’t disposed of the mutant earlier.

 

“Karai!?”

 

She flipped over the monster was slowly running at her. _Oh fuck_. Her short blade was over where she had removed his head. Karai slithered to the side dodging the creature as it whipped a long limb at her. Quickly, and almost silently she circled around and grabbed her short blade.

 

The farmer was strong but he wasn’t agile. Karai quickly struck him again removing the majority of him right arm. The monster roared, possibly in pain, and swung at her with his left. _He can see in the dark._

 

_He can see in the dark._

 

_What the fuck._

 

She dodged feeling the leaves brush against her scales. Before he could adjust she struck him in the front with such strength she went through him.

 

It was like breaking through the wall of a hedge maze. If that hedge maze had a weird wet center.

 

Turning around she saw the dismembered monster soak into the ground.

 

“Karai?” Leo called out in a whisper yell.

 

Karai slithered over to him “This is bad” she whispered.

 

“What’s going on?” Leo asked still squinting into the darkness.

 

Karai kept looking around frantically. “I think I bought us some time”. _How much time?_

 

“How much time?” Leo pressed.

 

Karai put her short blade away. “Leo, we need a plan”.

 

Leo didn’t say anything.

 

“Leo!” she whispered harshly “Plan, now.”

 

“Uhh, okay, we really need to find the others.”

 

“Okay”.

 

“Where was the last place you hear, uh, screaming?”

 

Karai felt the ground move “Shit, we can’t stay here.” She grabbed the handles of Leo’s chair and pushed him towards the treeline.

 

Leo gripped the armrests “Where are we going?”

 

“Fuck, I don’t know! Away! We’re being hunted!” She snapped.

 

“Hunted? That thing is hunting us now? How do you know?”

 

“I just do and fuck trees. I can’t wheel you through a forest you know”. Karai moaned.

 

She looked at Leo, up and down.

 

“How much do you weigh?” she asked.

 

Leo looked up suddenly realizing “Karai, no! There is no way you are carrying me-” the monster formed out of the ground thirty feet away “-through those woods-” the monster roared “-CARRY ME!”

 

“Changed your tune didn’t you?” Karai sassed getting as close to Leo as she could allowing him to grab on to her shoulder, she put each of her arms under each of his knees and slithered as quick as she could.

 

Leo clung to her tightly “This is humiliating”.

 

“Yeah well I’m not happy either” she slithered quickly over logs and rocks. She listened as the sounds of the monster became more and more distant. “You still have your Katanas?”

 

“Of course” Leo sounded offended that she’d asked. “But didn’t you decapitate him?”

 

“Yeah, I think he needs time to come back” she slithered to a clearing she saw familiar with “like to regenerate or some shit”.

 

Leo sighed “At least the moon is out again. I can kind of see now.” Karai looked up to see the clouds dissipating.

 

“Oh” Karai added slithering slowly now taking in the woods “uh I think he can see in the dark”.

 

“Wonderful” she felt Leo nodding his head “Great, anything he can’t do?”

 

Karai shrugged, as much as she could with Leo holding on to her “He probably can’t win his father’s approval?”

 

“I’m being serious”

 

“So am I”

 

Leo moaned. “I say we light him on fire”.

 

Karai was about to argue but then again plants and fire. It was a start. “Okay...how do we do that?”

 

“I bet Donnie has at least ten things in that barn that could set someone on fire”. Leo mused.

 

“Oh the barn that is literally in the opposite direction that I have been slithering in?”

 

“Yep”

 

She rolled her eyes. “I hate you”.

 

Slithering around with Leo on her back wasn’t exactly a fun experience. But it proved to her that she was much stronger in this form. Leo was no lightweight. Yes he was going on week three of coming out of a coma and had yet to restore his weight. Still, it wasn’t worse than hauling a deer around. Every noise in the woods made Leo jump a little, startled by the foreign noises Karai had grown accustomed to.

 

“Can you not?” she asked.

 

“What?”

 

“Jump at everything, you're fucking with my balance”

 

“Oh, sorry, I just” It felt like Leo was craning his neck to look around “I’ve never been in an actual forest before”.

 

Karais’ heart lurched. “Great now I feel like a dick”.

 

“What’s that cracking noise?” Leo pestered.

 

“It’s the trees, cracking as they sway in the wind”

 

“Wow” An owl took off and the shadow caused Leo to look up suddenly.

 

“That’s an owl”

 

“Yeah I sussed that out” Leo said. She assumed he was rolling his eyes. “Mikey must love meditating out here.”

 

She stopped “That’s it!”.

 

“That’s what?”

 

“We can use Mikey!” _This is smart_.

 

Leo didn’t say anything. “What?”

 

“Meditate” Karai asserted. “Right now and talk to him, find out where he is!”

 

“That’s...that’s not how that works at all…” Leo sounded confused.

 

“But Mikey was talking to you while you were in a coma!” Karai argued.

 

He didn’t say anything but he adjusted his grip.

 

“What?” she asked.

 

“I, I know he says he did...but Karai I don’t...I don’t remember anything like that from being asleep” Leo said quietly. “I don’t even know if what Mikey is saying is possible”.

 

“What do you remember?”

 

Leo was quiet. “It’s not important”.

 

She dropped it there. Karai knew what was being said without Leo saying it.

 

* * *

April 19th, 2014 | 11:40 pm

* * *

In the barn, which was a mess, Karai sat Leo on a chair. It was dark but Karai quickly picked out a battery operated lantern and turned it on.

 

She slithered around quickly, she had maintained her calm thus far, but in reality every part of her screamed to flee. To burrow down and hide. She hadn’t felt this much impending doom since the Krang touched down in New York. She shook her head to herself, pushing that thought down too.

 

The alien invasion was happening right now.

 

And they were being terrorized by a salad.

 

“Wow, you uh...you’ve really uh…” Leo started and she turned to him. She was currently looking at the upper loft in the barn. However she was using the method of just raising herself up that high instead of using the ladder.

 

Karai realized “Oh, yeah, not all bad I guess” she smirked.

 

Leo looked awkward, no Leo always look awkward, but now he was awkward in that tip toeing around the elephant in the room type way. It was painfully obvious that he was trying to avoid talking about her mutation. “You find anything up there” Leo broke the tension.

 

“No” Karai sighed “And I think if there was, maybe Donnie took it with him”

 

“Oh”

 

“Yeah”

 

Leo looked down at the floor of the barn. “Karai I don’t know what to do”.

 

Oh not now. Karai didn’t respond. This was not going to be fixed with a joke or a light insult.

 

“If I wasn’t freaking paralyzed-”

 

“What? You’d be kicking ass right now?” Karai asked suddenly mad.

 

“N-”

 

“No, listen. That thing out there, is bad okay? I’m saying that? Me. Karai. The assassin gone mutant snake who got her ass handed to her back there! Paralyzed or not we are still in this. And we have to figure this out now”.

 

Leo didn’t respond.

 

“You keep talking like you’re not going to be paralyzed one day” Karai continued. Leo looked up at her hurt like she was saying something forbidden “What are you going to do if you can never use your legs again?”

 

Leo swallowed. He didn’t respond, he shook his head like he could deny all of it and it’d go away. “Donnie says...Donnie says that…” but he stopped.

 

“I know” she said, defeated. “But, just for now, what would you do, if you weren’t the leader, your legs are useless, and there’s a giant fucking farmer or some shit trying to eat us?”

 

“But that’s not what-”

 

Karai smacked her hand to her forehead. “Raph’s the leader now, you said it yourself. What would Raph do? And what are you going to do?”

 

“He’d stab that monster with his sais without a second thought” Leo said starting to pick up on what she was doing “so...we should actually double back and find the monster...because if Raph’s the leader...he’ll lead everyone into beating it up.”

 

Karai nodded.

 

“You have to go find them” Leo added.

 

“Alright, good plan, let’s go” Karai slithered towards him and he shook his head.

 

“No. You. You have to go find them” Leo patted the top of his thighs “I...I can’t go with you, I’m dead weight”.

 

“But-”

 

“You told me just now to stop acting like tomorrow I’ll walk” Leo stated. “If I can’t walk, I shouldn’t be fighting, and you shouldn’t be carrying me around on your back”.

 

Karai panicked internally. _That’s not what I meant_. “I’m not leaving you here defenseless!” she yelled before she could control her voice.

 

“You don’t have a choice”

 

“Yes, I fucking do, and I’m not leaving a snack for that thing and that’s final”

 

“Ka-”

 

Karai crossed her arms. “No, think of something else.”

 

“I’ll barricade the doors when you leave?” Leo pleaded now “Karai, please. Go save them”.

 

 _Dammit_. “Alright fine. What do I care if you get eaten or something anyways” she huffed.

 

“Thank you”.

 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever” Karai grumbled as she left the barn.

 

* * *

April 20th, 2014 | 12:45 am

* * *

By herself Karai was much faster. There was an issue. The Stupid Salad, the name Karai had settled on, wasn’t warm blooded or cold blooded. Tracking him wasn’t going to be easy. Especially since he smelled like a plant...in a forest...full of plants.

 

However, Casey Jones and his love for cheap cologne may save them all. Once Karai picked up on that she had a good idea of where they were. Which was far from the farmhouse.

 

Eventually she saw it. The shed. She could also hear them, muffled yells, like the people inside had gags but were still protesting.

 

She didn’t know where The Stupid Salad was. So Karai approached with caution. Slithering silently until she was close enough to the shed to peer in threw a crack. Inside Donnie and Raph were tied up. Mikey was tied up, upside down. Casey was unconscious on the ground April was tied up next to him attempting to squirm out of the vines. With no salad in sight she slithered away from the shed and then quickly slithered back hitting the door with the full weight of her body.

 

As the door crashed in a chorus of muffled screams met her and abruptly turned into expressions of relief. In one sweep she cut the three turtles down and turned to April’s vines, thankfully Casey’s eyes slowly opened. _Oh good-_

 

A strong green appendage grabbed her arm and threw her out of the shed and across the forest floor. She rolled a few times. The throw had been similar to the one outside the farmhouse, except lower to the ground. She felt a sting on her lower right side, but ignored it.

 

“Mikey! Free April. Donnie attack!” Raph barked orders having removed his own gag. As Karai righted herself to return to the fight she saw Raph wielding a machete and Donnie spinning a pitch fork like it was a Bo Staff.

 

The Stupid Salad seemed unphased by the multitude of puncture wounds only roaring at the ninjas as they dodge his swings.

 

“Booyakasha!” Mikey hollered revving up a chainsaw.

 

Both of Mikey’s older brother backed away from the monster as he plunged the chainsaw straight threw the top of the monsters head. A horrible noise erupted from him as he uselessly clawed at the chainsaw digging into his skull.

 

“Fucking Christ!” Raph screamed covering his ears. Karai was covering her own but slithered towards them, prepared to assist if the Stupid Salad came out of this.

 

April came out of the shed holding a chain and made eye contact with Donnie. Wordlessly the chain flew in the air and Donnie caught it. Raph and Donnie wrapped the monster up while he was still preoccupied.

 

“Get him off the ground” Karai shouted remembering what she saw earlier “he fucking melts or something and he’ll get away!”

 

“On it!” Mikey hollered hooking his chains around the monster and throwing the opposite end around a high up tree branch.

 

Karai, Raph and Mikey used their combined weight to lift the monster until he was suspended five feet off the ground. A vine slipped out and whipped at them. Raph screamed out grabbing his face suddenly on the ground. Mikey dug his heels in and Karai turned around trying to slither away while gripping the chain. She saw blood on Raph face.

 

“Hold him!” Donnie yelled, Karai could hear liquid sloshing in a container and it being splashed. The chainsaw was still sputtering in the monsters head. His screams echoed off the forest around them.

 

Suddenly it became a little easier to hold the monster up, Raph had joined them in pulling the chain again. Karai wasn’t looking towards him but she could smell the blood.

 

“Now Casey” Donnie ordered. There was a click and they were engulfed in light. If the monster had been thrashing before he was in hysterics now. The chain bounced and the tree creaked in protest. Karai wondered how far the noises of agony would travel.

 

Donnie joined the chain pulling crew, which helped. Her hands burned from the few times the chain had slipped, bleeding, making it hard to keep her grip.

 

After what felt like a lifetime, the creature stopped thrashing and shortly after that all noise except the crackle of the fire ceased. The chainsaw had stopped at some point, and when it crashed to the ground everyone jumped.

 

No one even suggested lower the chain until everything was ashes.

 

* * *

April 20th, 2014 | 7:00 am

* * *

Dawn crept up on them. Still outside a rotting shed, each with injuries. Donnie had found a broom and a dust pan, he swept the ashes up. Karai didn’t know what he did with them, she didn’t care.

 

Part of her wanted to slither back to the barn, inform Leo of what happened.

 

No, she wanted to see Leo. But informing him was a better cover.

 

“Raph we have to get back fast that’s definitely going to become in-”

 

“Can it Donnie, we’ll get back when we get back, how’s everyone else?” Raph looked around at everyone.

 

Donnie snapped his fingers in Raph’s face “Nuh uh! Your eyeball is gone, don’t pull a Leo, sit down while we figure out the quickest way home”.

 

“Your eye is gone!” Mikey exclaimed. Looking up from where he was sitting.

 

“I’m not pulling a Leo!” Raph shouted, ignoring Mikey. Donnie cocked his head and scowled looking down at his older brother, his height giving him a disapproving mother vibe “Fine I’ll sit if you give me a shorthand of everyone’s sta’us!”

 

“Casey has a concussions, and is over by that tree with April gifting it his stomach contents. Mikey has a few bruises, some rope burn, and his palms are cut from holding the chain. April has rope burns and a few cuts and bruises from being thrown around. Karai has a few deep cuts-” he turned sharply and looked at her with the same disapproving mother vibe “-that I will be looking at-” he turned back to Raph “and bruises. I have a definite sprained if not twisted ankle along with rope burn and bruises. Your eyeball is gone, you have various rope burns and bruises.” Donnie finished.

 

Raph sighed. His hand still pressed against his right eye, or eye socket. “Okay, wait what about Leo?”

 

Karai spoke up “I left him barricaded in the barn after the Salad attacked the farmhouse”.

 

“I got it!” Mikey suddenly stood up from where he had been sitting cross legged. “We should call him The Creep!”

 

“Alright” they all three responded.

 

“Okay, let’s head home” Donnie yawned.

 

* * *

April 20th, 2014 | 11:35 am

* * *

Karai had volunteered to scout ahead for a path best suited for those with legs. Partly because she knew the way she slithered to the shed from the farmhouse would be very hard to follow if you didn’t have ten feet of a snakes body behind you. Also partly because she wanted to be away from them.

 

It was near noon before the farmhouse was in sight and that was when Karai heard it. The sound of someone using their fucking katanas to cut through greenery. Then the sound of that same someone stopping, then wheeling their fucking wheelchair another foot into the woods.

 

Karai easily snuck up on Leo. “So...gardening are we?”

 

Leo jumped a little. “Karai! Where? Others?” He craned his neck to see around her as if maybe she had his whole extended family taped to her tail.

 

“Relax, I am scouting a good path for them, everyone will be here soon” she pointed to him and his chair “So...you can..uh stop whatever this is” _Thank fuck you’re okay._

 

With that she turned to report back to the group leaving Leo to sigh in relief.

 

When the caravan did arrive Mikey immediately spotted Leo and dragged him and his wheelchair out of the woods. “Dude, how?” he grunted. “And...why?”

 

“I...I was scared” Leo sighed. He sounded tired. It occurred to Karai then that he must have literally dragged himself from the barn, to his wheelchair, then wheeled his wheelchair to the other side of the farmhouse and then started clearing a path.

 

Leo’s determination had hit an all time high.

 

Everyone was tired. They all looked forward to sleep. Entering the farmhouse again was a relief. Donnie started barking orders based on who was the most injured. Soon the living room was transformed into an area where everyone could comfortably sit or lay while patching each other up.

 

Donnie dubbed Leo a Doctor's assistant allowing him to disinfect bloody palms and cuts. While Donnie would take over anything more serious. The power was still out, luckily there was enough light to see and the weather was kind.

 

Karai coiled herself between Leo, who was in his wheelchair gently tending to Mikey’s torn up hands while Mikey blabbered on about their first attempt at killing The Creep, and Casey who she was in charge of flicking if he fell asleep. Apparently it was bad to fall asleep with a concussion.

 

Leo glanced over at her as Mikey kept talking, giving her a smile.

 

She rolled her eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A relaxing trip to a nearby lake holds a few surprises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter (and from now forward) bolded words are meant to be in Japanese. Also please note that this chapter is particularly graphic in nature. All warning tags apply.

* * *

 April 20th, 2014 | 7:45 pm

* * *

Karai woke up slowly, and then quickly when her surroundings were not familiar. She spun her head around. She was in...the living room?

 

Everyone was in the living room. Even Leo, who was probably currently on his longest streak of being outside of his own bed since waking up, was sound asleep in the living room. Mikey was asleep on Leo, they were both sitting on the couch with a throw blanket over them. She was coiled on the floor. Half of herself in front of the couch, the other half almost around the couch. At least she was pretty sure the inch of white scales she saw poking out from behind the couch belonged to her.

 

It felt like sunset, the farmhouse living room was draped in that warm glow. Donnie was asleep in a big reclining chair with April. They were sleeping back to back, or shell to back. Raph was asleep in another big chair. Casey was asleep on top of the coffee table, head hanging off the edge. _That could not be comfortable_.

 

She yawned. Normally she’d get up as the sun went down, but for once...it felt nice here. In this moment.

 

* * *

2010

* * *

_Karai paced eagerly back from the training room. The Shredder had been happy with her lately. He’d hinted, as much as he could hint at something, to her about possibly training new recruits to The Foot outside of Japan. An opportunity she would love. Especially if it meant having her own Dojo like Chris Bradford._

 

_A Dojo far away from her father._

 

_She headed to the showers, sweat sticking to her thighs. That’s when she heard it, the sobs, the muffled sobs coming from a master bathroom. Childish whimpering._

 

_Karai never used the master bathroom, it was strictly her father’s, and occasionally she had known her father to bring women home to their large estate. Sometimes Karai would over hear certain things happening in the master bathroom._

 

_But this didn’t sound like an adult. So against her better judgement she went into the bathroom. She had never been in the bathroom before. Her father usually came to her when he wanted to-_

 

_She gulped, not able to finish that sentence. It was nothing, really, not to her, she was used to it._

 

_Following the whimpering noises she quickly found the source. It was a child, as Karai had suspected._

 

 _“_ **_Hey_ ** _” she said softly._

 

 _The child looked up at her, eyes wide with fear. “_ **_No! Go away!_ ** _” the child screamed back. The child was completely naked, it wasn’t until the kid stood up and scrambled away from her that Karai noted she was female._

 

_And she couldn’t be older than six._

 

 _“_ **_No, no, it’s okay. I mean no harm._ ** _” she said calmly biting back the urge to scold the child for yelling. The last thing she wanted was for her father to hear this._

 

_The girl’s legs shook violently, both her hands were covering her crotch protectively. She sniffled and tried her best to keep as much distance between herself and Karai._

 

 _Karai looked around and spotted a large clean bath towel and grabbed it “_ **_Here, you must be cold.._ ** _” she slowly approached holding the towel out to her. The little girl let Karai get closer and closer and didn’t move. She was in shock, frozen all the child could do was freeze. Realizing this, once she was close enough she wrapped the girl in the towel. “_ **_There, just hold this around yourself okay?_ ** _” Karai told the girl._

 

_The little girl nodded slightly, grabbing the towel now that she was covered._

 

 _“_ **_Okay, it’s okay now_ ** _” Karai told her, trying to sound gentle. It wasn’t her strong suit, empathy, but she had stood where this child was standing now._

 

 _Tears ran down her face “_ **_I want my mommy_ ** _” she cried._

 

 _“_ **_What’s your name?_ ** _” Karai asked, she was on her knees in front of the girl, but the girl shook her head refusing to answer. “_ **_My name is Karai, but I need to know who you are to find your mom_ ** _”._

 

 _At this the little girl seemed to decide it was okay to tell Karai her name. “_ **_Tamami_ ** _”._

 

 _Karai nodded. “_ **_Okay, let’s go find her_ ** _”._

 

 _She guided the girl out into the hall, the towel still snuggly around her. Karai had to find someone who knew where the girl was from, and would take her without question. She whispered to the girl “_ **_Where was your mother last?_ ** _”._

 

_Tamami shrugged. Karai swore to herself, the girl was too freaked out to remember anything most likely. But a name and maybe an age were nothing to go by._

 

_Karai decided to take the girl to her quarters. It would be safest there and Karai had clothes that while oversized, would at least cover the child. She wasn’t comfortable around the young girl, who even with a towel was all too exposed._

 

 _“_ **_Where are we going_ ** _” Tamami asked her voice shaking._

 

 _“_ **_My room then we can find your mother, okay?_ ** _” Karai whispered squeezing her shoulders, trying to be comforting._

 

_Tamami seemed content with that, hiccupping sobs as Karai walked to her room._

 

 _Inside the bedroom she closed the door, she didn’t have a lock, her father wouldn’t allow that. “_ **_Tamami I’m going to get you a t-shirt okay?_ ** _”_

 

_Karai retrieved from her closet a cotton shirt, a long one. It would hang down past her knees. She put the shirt on the girl over the towel, and then removed the towel but let Tamami keep it. Karai didn’t know how much she should be touching her, how much was wrong with the situation or if she was doing more harm._

 

 _“_ **_What if he comes back?_ ** _” Tamami asked looking at Karai, clutching the towel to her chest._

 

 _Karai knew she was asking about her father, but this was an opportunity to see what the child knew. Any information could be key to identifying where the girl came from, how to get her somewhere safe. “_ **_Who?_ ** _” Karai asked._

 

 _“_ **_Daddy_ ** _” Tamami said with fear in her voice. Dread and fear. Karai cringed._

 

 _“_ **_Is he your father?_ ** _” she pressed._

 

 _“_ **_No_ ** _” Tamami said quietly and uncertain, as if it was the wrong answer. Or more likely, Karai suspected, she would be punished for saying no to that._

 

 _Karai’s throat was tight. “_ **_Did he tell you, did he say that you should call him daddy?”_ ** _she tried to keep the fear out of her own voice._

 

_Tamami nodded._

 

 _“_ **_Does the man call you something?_ ** _” Karai asked. She didn’t want to know, but she had never been able to confirm it before. “_ **_Something that wasn’t your name?_ ** _”_

 

 _Tamami nodded again “_ **_He says… I’m Karai_ ** _”._

 

* * *

April 21st, 2014 | 6:30 am

* * *

“Hey”

 

Karai’s eyes snapped open.

 

“Hey” it was Donnie whispering and nudging her.

 

Karai groaned.

 

“Sorry, but you are the least injured person who can go down stairs” Donnie whispered “And I need help getting the power working”.

 

Karai nodded. “Right”. She followed Donnie, they were both quiet trying not to wake the others who were not awake yet. Particularly hard since Donnie was on crutches.

 

Donnie led her into the basement, it was very dusty and the floor was gravel. Donnie worked on the fuse box while Karai held up a flashlight for him to see. Karai was mostly lost in her own thoughts. Donnie had patched her up, like she was one of the crew. Part of the family. He even had scolded her for even thinking about not letting him patch her up.

 

“Uh, I wanted to say thanks” Donnie started not looking at her. “For saving us back there”.

 

Karai nodded.

 

Donnie continued “I’m sure Raph is thankful too, even if he doesn’t say it right away”.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah, uh you really came through for us. Not, not that you would have just let The Creep kill us all but I mean, you really were vital back there”. Donnie stuttered a little, but he sounded sincere.

 

“Well, pretty sure he wanted me dead too” Karai added.

 

Donnie hummed in acknowledgement. “I think I judged you wrong”

 

Karai didn’t say anything.

 

“Well, to be frank, I think we all judged you wrong” Donnie said with guilt in his voice. “But me in particular, and I’m sorry for that”.

 

“Sorry?” Karai asked “Sorry for what?”

 

“Don’t tell April this, but I have a….” Donnie trailed off a little and then cleared his throat. “... a crush. Don’t you dare tell her!” he added hastily as if Karai would slither upstair and shake the red head awake to tell her this earth shattering news.

 

Karai blew air out her mouth. “Trust me, she already knows.”

 

“What!? How!?” Donnie stopped fiddling with the box.

 

“The same way everyone knows Leo had a crush on me?” _Probably doesn’t anymore._

 

“That’s…” Donnie went back to the box, defeated “The point is, I was kind of assuming that Leo was pursuing you because I was trying to make a move on April. Which made me immediately think you were just using him to get to us”.

 

“I understand where you are coming from” Karai admitted “And trust me, it did cross The Shredder’s mind”. _More than crossed his mind_. She cringed internally.

 

“When you showed up at the farmhouse back in January...I was still holding that grudge against you, and admittedly, I was holding it against Leo too.”

 

There was silence for a moment. Donnie was collecting his thoughts.

 

“Fuck, it’s the reason he’s in this mess in the first place” Donnie said quietly. “I had been doubting his leadership for awhile. I knew how often he’d sneak out with you...and that day when the lair was attacked...I just had to argue with him”.

 

Karai didn’t say anything. There wasn’t really anything she could say, no one had told her exactly what went down at the lair the day of the invasion.

 

“Even yesterday I made decisions, potentially life or death decisions based on my biased opinion.”

 

“What were those?” Karai asked.

 

“I had you guard Leo because I was pretty sure he was the only one you actually cared enough about to protect”

 

It did make sense to Karai, admittedly she wasn’t as attached to any of his brothers as she was to Leo, even in the platonic friendship type way. Leo and her were friends. One of her only friends aside from Shini. “Well that’s not wrong, Donnie. I mean, Leo practically had to beg me to leave him in the barn”.

 

“But you did it, you came and saved the-”

 

“-but I wouldn’t have unless Leo made me-”

 

“-doesn’t matter. Also I highly doubt Leo could make you do anything you didn’t actually want to do” Donnie cut her argument down.

 

“I-” she stopped. “Fine, I saved the day, me, Karai, you’re welcome” she deadpanned, knowing Donnie wouldn’t let her win.

 

* * *

2010

* * *

_Her heart clenched. She had expected it, for Tamami to say that. But to have it confirmed was another thing._

 

 _“_ **_Okay, it’ll be okay_ ** _” she told Tamami softly. “_ **_He won’t come back, we’ll find your mother, okay?_ ** _”_

 

 _“_ **_Promise?_ ** _” Tamami asked._

 

 _Karai swallowed. “_ **_I promise_ ** _”._

 

_The phone rang and Tamami yelped in surprise. Karai hushed her and stood up. The caller ID said the call was coming from a room number. Karai recognized the number as her father’s bedroom. She could pick up the phone and lie, or risk her father coming to her room and finding Tamami himself._

 

 _“_ **_Tamami, be silent_ ** _” Karai instructed. The little girl nodded, she was standing with her back to the corner of the bedroom, still having been startled by the phone ringing._

 

 _“_ **_Good evening father_ ** _” Karai answered the phone evenly._

 

 _“_ **_Karai_ ** _” her father said dryly. His voice sounded frustrated. “_ **_I know you are hiding her in your bedroom_ ** _”._

 

 _“_ **_Who?_ ** _” Karai asked. She was proud of how genuine she made it sound._

 

 _“_ **_Do not play games with me, Karai_ ** _”_

 

 _“_ **_I’m not, father_ ** _”_

 

 _“_ **_A guard saw you bringing a little girl into your bedroom, Karai._ ** _” Her heart sped up. “_ **_I will deal with your lying at another time, however the child…they do not come cheap or easily even in my business_ ** _”_

 

 _Karai shook her head “_ **_Father, please-_ ** _”_

 

 _“_ **_Do not question me. Bring the girl back here, to me, in person._ ** _” he said sternly._

 

 _She swallowed, her back was to Tamami so the girl couldn’t see her face twisted in anger. “_ **_No._ ** _” she breathed her vocal chords betraying her._

 

 _Her father sighed into the line “_ **_Do you wish to take her place then?_ ** _”_

 

_Karai grabbed the table to keep herself from collapsing to the floor._

 

 _“_ **_If I have to come down there, I won’t be coming for the child_ ** _” the receiver clicked on his end._

 

 _Karai hung up the phone. She was shaking, she kept a tight hold on the table. She could hear Tamami breathing, her nose plugged up with snot and phlegm from all the sobbing. “_ **_Karai?_ ** _” Tamami whispered._

 

* * *

April 21st, 2014 | 7:30 am

* * *

“I mean...it’s kind of badass looking” Casey said through a mouthful or waffles. “Eye patches are dope too though”.

 

Raph was studying himself with a hand mirror “Really?” he asked “Do you think it’ll leave a cool scar?”

 

“Oh that’d be wicked!”

 

“If it leaves a scar, I don’t think I’d wanna have an eye patch.” Raph stated still looking intently at his exposed eye socket in the mirror.

 

Karai was mostly paying attention to Raph and Casey’s conversation. Raph was almost happy he lost his eye. Casey also seemed happy. Both boys thought Raph’s injury was the coolest thing ever. As they talked more about fashion, the ins and outs of what a potential enemy may think of Raph’s intimidating scar Karai glanced over at Leo.

 

Leo looked like he was going to gag. He was staring at Raph (who was just infatuated with his own reflection) and looked on the verge of hurling.

 

“You okay there?” she elbowed him.

 

Leo shook his head “That’s so..” he shivered “Just...at the table?”

 

Karai laughed at him.

 

“I’m serious it looks like the inside of a hot pocket” Leo gagged a little. “Oh I just ruined hot pockets forever”.

 

Karai continued to laugh. “Am I witnessing you losing your gaping eye socket virginity?”

 

Leo was touching his own face while staring at Raph, as if trying to confirm to himself that he still had his eyeballs at least. “That’s not a thing” he looked at her “you made that up.”

 

“Duh”

 

“It’s just...so...blegh” Leo continued to make weird faces. “How is he not...I don’t know, freaking out?”

 

Karai shrugged. “I mean it’s Raph, right? Isn’t this a Raph reaction?”

 

“I guess…” Leo said still touching his face “But...I’d be freaking out”.

 

“You’re freaking out right now and you have both your eyeballs”

 

“Yeah...but…” he shivered still looking at Raph.

 

Karai shook her head and went back to listening to Casey and Raph really dive into the whole to wear an eye patch or not to wear an eye patch discussion.

 

“Leo, eat your food. Raph stop grossing everyone out with your eye socket I need to put fresh bandages on it anyways” Donnie came back into the dining room on crutches, but determined to mother hen everyone into doing what they were suppose to.

 

Raph rolled his eye, and Casey went back to shoving pancakes into his mouth now that Raph was being dragged away by Donnie. Karai turned back to Leo who was stabbing at his own plate of waffles, maybe having ate half of one since the beginning of breakfast.

 

“You should do what he says, and eat” Karai offered watching Leo look down at his plate.

 

Leo stabbed a waffle “I’m not that hungry. Hey what are you doing today?” he asked suddenly.

 

“I don’t know, whatever Donnie needs help with probably” Karai didn’t know if that was true, but it was the most likely outcome. She reminded herself to tell Leo about the conversation she had with Donnie in the basement. “Why?”

 

“I was just, you think we could go out into the forest today?” Leo sounded hopeful “I mean, you don’t have to stay, but...I really liked being out there.”

 

“There is a trail you know” Mikey interjected as he walked into the dining room with a second helping of waffles “I could push your wheelchair along that, it would be even enough”.

 

“Really?” Leo asked sounding excited. “You’d do that?”

 

“Yeah bro!” Mikey exclaimed smiling. “But you have to clean your plate” Mikey added.

 

Leo groaned.

 

“Come on bro, you’re skinnier than Donnie and it’s scary”

 

Leo shoved a whole waffle in his mouth dramatically, as if to get it over with.

 

Mikey squinted “Oh yeah Leo?” he picked up two waffles with bare hands and shoved them into his face “Ah beh oo anh oo oo augh ulls”. 1

 

* * *

2010

* * *

 _“_ **_Tamami, I have good news_ ** _” Karai turned to Tamami with a warm smile. “_ **_I know where your mother is_ ** _”_

 

 _The girl’s face lit up, it broke Karai’s heart. “_ **_Really?_ ** _”_

 

 _“_ **_Yes. I will take you to her right now_ ** _” Karai went over to Tamami and held out her hand for the little girl to grab onto._

 

_Tamami grabbed her hand and held on tightly, her small hand was slick with snot. Karai didn’t care._

 

 _“_ **_Just be quiet in the hallway okay?_ ** _” Karai told her. Together they left her bedroom, she was glad it was dark and that Tamami couldn’t see her face._

 

* * *

 April 21st, 2014 | 10:55 am

* * *

 

Mikey was right about the trail, and Karai was easily convinced to come along on the hiking trip. Together they took turns pushing Leo, even with him using his arms the wheelchair wasn’t exactly meant for a dirt path. April had a map of the hiking trails, and not too far from the farmhouse was a lake. Mikey had told Leo they have to go, even though Leo said he was fine with being just inside the woods. When Mikey asked if Leo had ever seen a real lake in the flesh, it was all the convincing Leo needed to go along and let them both drag him there.

 

Karai had been to this lake, it was nice. Also the look on Leo’s face when he saw it was eerily reminiscent of the face a young child would make if they were going to Disney World. That kind of made all the pushing worth it.

 

But she would never admit that to anyone. Ever.

 

“Oh yeah! Look at your face bro!” Mikey exclaimed. “Lakes rule!” he shouted making some birds fly away.

 

Leo had his mouth hanging open. “It’s so big….”

 

“That’s what she said!” Mikey yelled as he ran into the lake and once out to thigh height jumped in under the water out of sight.

 

Karai stayed by Leo watching the waves, listening to nature. Not even processing Mikey’s joke. “Karai...it’s beautiful.”

 

“You going to be okay?” she asked jokingly “I left my tissues in my other pants”

 

Leo just shook his head staring at the lake. Staring like if he blinked it would disappear. At that moment Mikey popped up from the water holding a suitcase. “Guys, look what I found!”

 

An idea popped into Karai’s head. “You want me to push you closer to the shore?” she asked.

 

Leo looked behind his shoulder at her “What?”

 

“So you can touch the water”

 

“I...yeah” Leo answered as Karai started to push. Mikey was just now reaching the shore with the suitcase he found.

 

“Here, now when the wave comes in it’ll touch your feet and then go back” Karai explained as Leo watched.

 

He gasped suddenly as the water submerged his toes.

 

Karai smiled. “Right?”

 

“I felt that!” Leo exclaimed.

 

Karai hummed a response.

 

“No-” Leo looked up at her “I felt that.” he put emphasis on “felt”.

 

Karai eye widened. “You- You felt it?”

 

Leo nodded as Karai slithered in front of him not caring about getting wet. She touched both his ankles. “Can you feel this?” she patted them.

 

Leo nodded hard. “Not like all the way, but I can feel your hands there.”

 

“Hey guys” Mikey called. They both looked over at Mikey who had finally pried open the suitcase. “Why would that skeleton pack a suitcase with dumbbells in them?”

 

* * *

 2010

* * *

_Tamami didn’t know the estate well enough to realize where Karai was leading her. Even so, with her father’s bedroom in sight she shifted her hand from Tamami’s so she had the girl by the wrist._

 

 _“_ **_Karai?_ ** _” Tamami whispered noticing the tightened grip._

 

_Karai didn’t answer, her throat was tight. Even if she could talk there was no way she would ever be able to keep the shake from her own voice. She walked to the door and opened it. Immediately Tamami began to yell._

 

 _Her father was sitting on the end of his bed in a robe. “_ **_Karai! It’s him!_ ** _” Tamami screamed at her digging her heels into the ground. The thick ornate carpeting gave her bare feet no traction._

 

 _The Shredder stood and smiled down at her. “_ **_Very good Karai_ ** _” he cupped her face gently “_ **_I knew you’d make the right choice_ ** _”._

 

_Tamami was screaming now for Karai to let her go. She was clawing at Karai’s forearms._

 

 _“_ **_Oh don’t cry_ ** _” her father wiped away the tears streaming down Karai’s face “_ **_I’ll take good care of her_ ** _” he reached down and grabbed Tamami by the upper arm prompting Karai to release. As soon as she did Tamami’s screams became hysterical. She pounded her free fist on The Shredders hand. He didn’t acknowledge it. “_ **_You are dismissed, daughter_ ** _”._

 

 _Karai turned quickly and started towards the door. Tamami screamed after her “_ **_No! You promised!_ ** _” the wailing continued when Karai closed the door behind her. “_ **_I want my mommy!_ ** _” Tamami screamed, most likely at her father directly._

 

_The sobbing noises followed her all the way back to her room._

 

* * *

April 21st, 2014 | 11:10 am

* * *

 Leo and Karai both squinted at Mikey who was holding up two dumbells.

 

“Guys, I think...maybe...there was a murder here” Mikey said rubbing his chin while examining the dumbbells. “It would explain why there are these handcuffs on the handle…”

 

Karai cleared her throat. “Okay put it back.”

 

“What?” Mikey exclaimed “We can’t just...put it back...there’s a dude out there!”

 

“No, Mikey she’s right” Leo added much to the horror of Mikey “Put the suitcase back”.

 

“Why? Shouldn’t we like call someone?”

 

Leo massaged the side of his head “Mikey if we do that then cops will be out here”

 

Mikey realized what Leo was saying and looked down defeated.

 

“I’m sorry bro, but once we leave we could make an anonymous call.” Leo added trying to make Mikey feel better.

 

“Yeah I guess….it’s just what if they have a family or something, looking for them?” Mikey asked.

 

Leo grimaced.

 

“You’re always on about us doing the right thing no matter what though” Mikey argued. “I don’t think it’s right to just...leave him, or her, out here.”

 

“I know but that’s not the case this time” Leo said.

 

_I could never have this much patience._

 

“It’s like…” Leo started “...it’s like that story Sensei told us. When we were babies, and he hadn’t found the lair yet?” Mikey nodded. “Remember he told us that he saw a man being beat up by two police officers, they were hitting him with knight sticks even though he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was just a homeless man minding his own business? He knew the right thing was to stop it. But he couldn’t do that without getting caught by the security camera across the street. And if that happened, the Krang would be on his heels again, and we would be in danger.”

 

“Okay, okay, i get what you’re saying” Mikey sighed.

 

“We can call in a tip as soon as we save New York, trust me this is the best play. Karai is right, just put it back.”  Leo looked back to her for backup. She was still holding onto his ankles. She let go and awkwardly ran her fingers through her hair.

 

“I was actually saying he should put it back because it seemed like a hassle” she admitted.

 

Leo facepalmed.

 

* * *

2010

* * *

_She stayed in the shower a very long time. Until the water ran tepid, even with her head under the stream she swore she could still hear Tamami’s screams._

 

_Her forearm had stopped bleeding. Tamami had used all her strength to try and escape Karai’s grasp. She hope Tamami got a few scratches in on her father._

 

_She went over to her bed, and saw the towel Tamami had dropped after Karai had told her she was taking her to her mother. She picked up the towel and threw it across the room where it landed in a heap before she sunk down to her knees and sobbed. She hated herself._

 

_Karai woke up in her bed, somehow, she didn’t remember much after she sobbed on the floor for hours. Her carpet burned knees were proof of that. She woke up somber, more level headed. Tamami meant nothing to her Karai told herself. She repeated it while getting dressed._

 

_She repeated it while eating breakfast._

 

_While doing an early morning run._

 

_While doing everything the fourteen year old daughter of Oroku Saki was expected to do._

 

_Karai didn’t see her father all day. Something she would not complain about, or question. Seeing him alive and breathing. It would crumble a wall she had carefully constructed. Not aware fully of what she had done to shield herself from reality, all Karai was certain was that if her father wasn’t around Tamami might be okay._

 

_Tamami might have escaped again, and this time got away. She would find her mother and never be inside the bedroom of Oroku Saki again. Karai could live in that fantasy all while also making the little girl mean nothing. Better her than Karai._

 

 _Her father showed his ugly face while Karai was instructing some mid-level foot soldiers on sparring. Most of the men had at first been insulted, a child, a female child teaching them? Karai had nipped that in the butt day one. Telling all those who felt they were far too advanced and skilled to be under the tutelage of a fourteen year old could challenge her to a spar. When cocky grins spread across a few faces Karai added “_ **_at once_ ** _”. To which some men looked concerned. Five of the students that day sparred with her._

 

_Of course they lost._

 

_Today those five were some of her best. The ones she would draw her father’s eye to first. Now they sparred with each other. Karai barked orders, fixed form. This was her element. Training the new generation of The Foot._

 

_When he father came up behind her, placing both hands firmly on her shoulders she did not flinch. She would not show fear, her father knew she feared him, her students did too, but there was strength in holding her ground._

 

 _“_ **_I am proud, my daughter_ ** _” he said quietly._

 

 _“_ **_This batch is promising_ ** _” Karai agreed._

 

 _He rubbed her shoulders “_ **_No, not this. Last night_ ** _”._

 

_Karai’s heart pounded in her chest, she couldn’t think of a response._

 

 _“_ **_You... surprised me_ ** _” he said warmly. It was genuine pride in his voice. “_ **_You showed me you have what it takes to be a member of The Foot_ ** _”_

 

 _Karai straightened up her shoulders “_ **_I am a member of The Foot_ ** _”._

 

 _“_ **_Yes, because you are my daughter_ ** _” he dug his fingers into her shoulders but she refused budge. “_ **_Last night you were The Foot. You did what you had to for yourself. You turned the child knowing full well what would happen to her._ ** _” He chuckled “_ **_I’ve never been prouder, my daughter. Never show mercy, your only loyalty is to The Foot no matter the personal cost you remember that Karai._ ** _”_

 

_She nodded once, her throat too tight to respond._

 

 _“_ **_One day this will be yours_ ** _” he gestured broadly to the men and the Dojo “_ **_but to be the leader of The Foot you must do what is best for The Foot and nothing else._ ** _”_

 

 _“_ **_Yes father_ ** _” Karai responded._

 

* * *

April 21st, 2014 | 2:05 pm

* * *

The good news of Leo having some feeling in his legs was confirmed and recorded by Donnie. It was important now to track progress on that front. With a lot of concentration Leo even wiggled his toes.

 

Karai had been there for that but after the exhausting outing to the lake, and Mikey peer pressuring Leo into eating some soup he was threatening to fall asleep in his chair. Raph and Mikey moved him upstairs and the only casualty suffered was Leo’s pride after being tucked it by his brothers.

 

It was then, and only then that Karai realized she had spent basically the last day and a half next to Leo’s side if she included their dual battling of The Creep. Now she was lost. Which immediately made her feel awkward. She decided it would be a good time to be in the company of something familiar.

 

Karai took Mr. Tubbs out of his tank and took him outside. She liked the snake still, even though he was a complete moron. No, she was not holding a grudge over that time she pointed to the same damn salmon forty times trying to get him to eat. She was over that. With Mr. Tubbs around her shoulders she spotted Mikey sitting on the grass facing the woods like he usually did. She slithered up to him and noticed immediately he looked sad.

 

“Hey Mikey” she said announcing her presence.

 

Mikey immediately smiled and looked up at her “Oh hi Karai!” If she wasn’t trained to notice it, Karai would have thought Mikey was just happy to see her. Not that he was hiding something.

 

“What’s wrong?” she asked “And yeah no, don’t tell me everything is fine, I already saw you looking sad so spill the turtle beans”

 

Mikey closed his mouth but looked confused. “Turtle b-?”

 

“-was it Raph?” Karai interrupted throwing her fist into her hand “need me to beat him up?”

 

“What? No. I mean, well, not yet” Mikey corrected himself before sighing “I’m just still mad about the lake man.”

 

Ah. “Why? Didn’t we all agree to just call it in once we get back to the city?”

 

“Yeah...but I can’t stop thinking about it” he rubbed his face “and don’t tell me not to think about it because I found him so I feel, I feel like I should do something”.

 

Karai pondered this while Mikey looked at the woods, he was no longer bothering to keep a fake smile on or fill the silence with nonsense.

 

“It’s stupid right? I’m just being stupid” Mikey added after a while “I wish I’d never went swimming over there, or I wish I didn’t see it….or uhg” he flopped over so he was laying on his shell.

 

“Well, if you just walked by he’d still be...you know...there” Karai didn’t know where she was going with this.

 

“Okay yeah, but I wouldn’t know bout it and I wouldn’t be sad” Mikey argued.

 

“But it’d still be happening” she adjusted Mr. Tubbs then it struck her “it’s like a tree falling in the woods and no one is around to hear it”

 

Mikey scowled. “Huh”

 

“Only it’s….’if there’s a dead guy in the bottom of a lake and no one is around to find him is he really dead’ the guy is still dead Mikey”

 

“Yeah”

 

“His family still doesn’t know where he is”

 

“Okay”

 

“It’s still sad”

 

Mikey sat up again “So you’re saying it doesn’t matter if I did or did not know. He’s still dead. So I shouldn’t feel bad?”

 

“Yeah, close enough” Karai agreed.

 

Mikey looked down “That ever happen to you?”

 

“Finding a dead man in a lake?”

 

“No, like….i don’t know Karai, finding out something and realizing no matter what you do or don’t do it won’t change it”

 

Karai without realizing traced the five thin fading scars that scraped down her forearm. Her stomach twisted a little when she saw them, the memories poking into her mind.

 

“Yes, actually.” she said quietly.

 

“Do you still feel bad about it?” Mikey asked, innocently, Karai had to remember. He wasn’t dumb, if Mikey knew heaviness behind her answer he wouldn’t press. No one would.

 

So for that reason she found no reason to lie. “More often than not”. She hated herself for Tamami, she always would. She had never questioned it.

 

“Because I still feel bad” Mikey said looking right at her now “I know I can’t make him undead. I just...wish he wasn’t dead in the first place”

 

“That’s reasonable Mikey” she said dragging her hand away from her wrist. “You can be sad about him being dead...just, don’t be hard on yourself”.

 

Mikey nodded and went back to staring at the woods.

 

* * *

April 21st, 2014 | 5:30 pm

* * *

“They didn’t have to tuck me in” Leo mumbled to himself. “I can tuck myself in”

 

“Uh huh” Karai responded not really paying attention to Leo who was laying in bed still. Under Doctor Donatello’s strict bed rest orders.

 

Leo sighed “And Donnie doesn’t think I eat enough” he rolled his eyes “I sit around all day I don’t need to be eating”.

 

“Uh huh”

 

“I’m not that thin” Leo flexed his arm and then frowned. “Okay I’m a little thin”

 

“Yep”

 

He played with his fingers a bit “I did find it strange how easily they seemed to carry me upstairs” Leo sounded like a conspiracy theorist piecing together a juicy string of details.

 

“Color me shocked”

 

“I am getting the impression you think i am over reacti- where are you?” Leo asked. She felt the bed shift above her as Leo moved.

 

“Under the bed” Karai responded. Admittedly she had sort of hoped when Raph asked her to stay with Leo, he’d be asleep still. Because she wanted to sleep.

 

“Why?”

 

Karai opened her eyes, and squinted against the light that was bleeding through the bed skirt. “Trying to sleep but the top bunk keeps talking”.

 

Leo was silent “Are you okay?”

 

“Yep” she sighed.

 

“You don’t sound okay” Leo pressed “You sound like you’ve been crying”

 

 _Fuck_. “I haven’t been crying” she lied and since she said it aggressively now Leo definitely knew she was lying.

 

“Liar! Liar!” Leo teased “Uh...scales on fire?”

 

Karai snorted.

 

“Ha. Now tell me what’s wrong.”

 

Karai moaned and slithered out from under the bed. “It’s nothing” she stretched trying to ignore how damn worried Leo looked.

 

“I don’t think it’s nothing. Why would you cry over nothing? Why would you hide under the bed? Was it the guy at the lake?”

 

Karai waved her hands at him dismissively “Alright I surrender! God, what the hell is it with you and rapid fire questions?” she asked. Leo crossed his arms. “A conversation with Mikey just made me think about things I’d rather not”.

 

“What did he do?” Leo asked squinting.

 

“Nothing...I was just. No, this whole day ever since I woke up and had that fucking weird come to Jesus talk with Donnie in the basement everything's come down to morals”

 

Leo stayed silent. Which she appreciated in the moment, it was easier to keep talking than it was to maintain a civil conversation.

 

“Then right after Donnie gets done patting me on the back for being a hero during The Creep incident the next thing we do is find a body. Then I have to convince Mikey that sometimes you can’t change what happens so you have to do what is best for you”.

 

“Well thank you for talking to Mikey”

 

“Yeah, well I wish I hadn’t”

 

“Wish you hadn’t what?”

 

“Handed Tamami over” Karai smacked her hands over her mouth like it would force the words back down her throat.

 

Leo stern face melted into sympathy. Leo knew about Tamami, it wasn’t easy telling him that one. It was one of maybe a handful she had told him about how cruel The Shredder was. “Karai..”

 

She shook her head and slithered to the opposite side of the room. “No, no, not talking about it. Ever” she said defensively.

 

“That doesn’t make you a bad person”

 

“How does handing over a little girl to get” she couldn’t say it so she stopped and took a breath. “How does that make me anything but a terrible person?”

 

“You were both trapped”

 

“That’s no excuse” she shot back.

 

“I know. But it’s a fact” Leo argued. “You’re not a terrible person. You were trapped in a terrible situation”.

 

Karai didn’t have a response so she stared at Leo for a bit, and he stared back at her.

 

Casey knocked on the door frame and walked in the room looking awkwardly from Leo to Karai. “Uh, dinner is ready...spaghetti, you want to come down for dinner Leo or eat up here?”

 

Leo broke eye contact “I’m not hun-”

 

“Donnie said if you said you aren’t hungry that I should tell you too bad you have to eat”

 

Leo scowled. “Fine, I’ll come down for spaghetti”

 

“Great, I’ll tell Raph and Mikey” Casey said leaving the room. Leo looked back at Karai.

 

“You’re not a terrible person.” Leo stated. “Okay?”

 

“Whatever”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) While scientists are still uncertain, the most plausible theory is Michelangelo was saying "I bet you can't do two waffles".


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When traps are found in the woods, the turtles and co worry about having been found by The Shredder. Donnie opens up to the non-turtles in the farm house about Leo.

* * *

 May 1st, 2014 | 10:20 am

* * *

“I can’t believe it’s May already” April said trying to strike up conversation with Karai. Both girls were on the porch, watching Raph and Donnie spar with Casey and Mikey.

 

Karai made a noise in acknowledgement.

 

“So….” April drummed her fingers on the railing. A habit she probably picked up from Donnie. “You and Leo”.

 

Karai turned her head slowly and looked at April. “What?” she asked.

 

“Nothing, it’s just ever since The Creep you two have been spending a lot of time together” April took a sip of her coffee.

 

Karai squinted. It was true. The incident with The Creep was almost two weeks ago. Leo and Karai had been spending the majority of their days together.

 

She hadn’t really given it much thought. Now though, she couldn’t remember any moment in the past two weeks where she wasn’t at least in communication with Leo multiple times a day. She would pester him to eat breakfast, she would accompany him to the woods. More embarrassingly she had been sleeping under his bed for the past week, which was accidental. Leo had restless leg syndrome on the extreme so he would be up until early morning thrashing around. Karai had taken to keeping him company. Which meant they would talk about nonsense until he fell asleep.

 

It was also accidental that they moved Mr. Tubbs tank from the bedroom downstairs to Leo's room along with Karai’s things. It was only because Raph didn’t want to sleep four feet away from the Chinese Cobra.

 

Then of course it only made sense for her to move her clothes and other meager possessions in to Leo’s room too.

 

“So what?” she replied.

 

April just nodded her head once “I mean...how’s that going?”

 

“What are you implying O’Neil?”

 

“Nothing” April said quickly “Unless...i should be?”

 

Karai rolled her eyes.

 

“Oh come on! I’m dying to know!” April said exasperated.

 

Karai played dumb. “Know what?”

 

“You know….if you and” she jerked her head over towards the woods where Leo was meditating “are...together”.

 

“Oh you want to know if Blue and I have had sex?” Karai asked bluntly. She knew April was not asking that, but a sure way to shut this conversation down was to make things so awkward the nosy red head would retreat.

 

April’s face reddened. “No I mea-”

 

“I will admit I do sometimes find myself staring longingly at the back of his shell” Karai put on her best lustful voice.

 

“Rea-”

 

Karai continued her show, not allowing April to interrupt. “He does make my tail curl” she clutched her chest dramatically.

 

April’s face dropped into a scowl. “Okay you’re messing with me.”

 

Karai laughed and dropped her act. “Wish I could of had a photo of your face”.

 

“You had me going there for a second” April admitted taking a sip of her coffee.

 

Karai looked over at Leo who was thankfully way too far away to overhear the conversation, and had his back to them. “I was watching a documentary that said turtle dicks are half the length of their bodies”.

 

April choked on her coffee.

 

* * *

 May 1st, 2014 | 2:10 pm

* * *

Operation Awkward April Away was a success. So Karai was spared anymore embarrassing questions about her and Leo.

 

Too bad that meant she would interrogate herself with those unsaid questions. Leo was her friend. That she was certain of. They hung out together, they picked on each other, they had inside jokes. It was a solid friendship.

 

Leo had a crush on her. She knew that much because in a few cases in the past she had used it against him, his dorkish demeanor and general awkwardness. Though Leo had never tried anything. He never made a move. So maybe it was a mild crush? Or the type of crush you grow out of as you get to know the person. _Or the type of crush that dies when you mutate yourself into a snake._

 

The problem now was she didn’t like that. Leo not having a crush on her anymore hurt her feelings in that sick cliche way that made Karai hate herself for having emotions in the first place. _Stupid Leo, making me think about this seriously._

 

“Karai” Leo said.

 

Surprised she looked up. “It’s not right, no one should be able to be that silent in a wheelchair” she scowled.

 

Leo looked confused “I’ve said your name ten times on the way over here, you been staring at the grass for a concerning amount of time”.

 

“Whatever, what’s up?” she asked now embarrassed she had been so caught up in her own thoughts.

 

Leo tapped his fingers together. “Uh is it just me or is something up with April?”

 

“Who knows” Karai shrugged.

 

“You were talking to her this morning on the porch and ever since then she has been acting really weird around us, like specifically those of us who are turtles”

 

Karai laughed “Oh uh, I told her about how a turtles dick is half the length of its body”.

 

“Karai!”

 

“What she was getting nosy asking if you and I were fucking each other.”

 

Leo face was red “Okay I don’t believe that for a second, April is an angel. Don’t corrupt her with your weird anatomical knowledge of our private parts!”

 

“And I see I have walked in on this conversation at the exact wrong moment” Casey interrupted much to the horror of both of them.

 

“What’s happening Jones” Karai tried to ask without her voice wavering. She failed.

 

Casey gave a death stare “Don’t try and change the subject man! Why are we talking about turtle weiners and April?”

 

“Oh did you know that a turtle’s dick is-” Karai started but Leo had clamped his hand over her mouth.

 

“Karai no!”

 

“Okay first off, yes I have heard that. And second it’s not true” Casey responded.

 

Karai wished she could frame a picture of Leo’s face, (she’d hang it right next to April’s), he let go of Karai’s mouth and threw his hands in the air “I really don’t want to know how you know that”.

 

“Oh, but I do so please elaborate” Karai piped up.

 

Casey nodded “Well I heard it in biology, and then I told it to Raph-”

 

“Please stop” Leo said into his hands.

 

“-and he was like “Nah man, that’s bull, it’s like ten inches tops” and I said “there is no way it’s ten inches” and-”

 

Leo started quietly screaming into his hands.

 

“-so then we had to go find a tape measure because there is no way we were eyeballing dick science-”

 

“Oh this is gold” Karai was laughing.

 

“-we went into the bathroom and got our stuff out-”

 

Leo looked up horrified “You guys played show and tell in the bathroom!?”

 

Casey rolled his eyes “What, we’re different species and it was science!”

 

“That doesn’t make it better!” Leo argued “You still showed each other your-” he was so insulted by the conversation he just pointed at Casey crotch.

 

“What? It was like seeing my dog’s dick” Casey said “It was just weird looking”

 

“What did it look like?” Karai asked sensing Casey had no boundaries here.

 

“No, don’t answer that Ca-!” Leo interrupted but it was too late.

 

“Squishy looking” Casey rubbed his chin “I can see why you all keep them up in your shell, Raph’s was pretty long too. But not half his body length”.

 

“La la la la la la” Leo was covering his ears.

 

“We never actually measured them” Casey said looking sad. “We just insulted each others weiners”.

 

“I hate you both” Leo said looking between Casey who was lost in thought and Karai who was holding her sides with laughter.

 

* * *

 May 1st, 2014 | 2:45 pm

* * *

Leo had physical therapy, which she didn’t stick around for. Being a cheerleader was not her style. Mikey was perhaps a sliver of shame away from chanting Leo’s name as he staggered from one side of the property to the other. This of course was done with the physical support of Raph and Mikey.

 

It was painful to watch, Karai didn’t have much empathy. She couldn’t afford to have it, sometimes the best way to get information out of traitors is to do something unspeakable to their loved ones. Innocent family members victim to their father’s or older sibling’s sins. Sometimes, but more rarely a mother would see her own child executed before her eyes for selling information to a rival clan. Karai personally would go the route of taking a few fingers. Her stomach twisted at the memories. To think that a year ago this time she’d be tasked with clipping toes off a seven year old bo-

 

A yelp of pain ripped her from her thoughts. Leo had lost his footing on uneven ground slamming his knee into his dirt before Raph and Mikey could save him. Part of her wanted to slither over there, at least in better ear shot, but he was surrounded by his siblings. It was obviously taken care of. She dragged her line of sight away from the turtles as they helped Leo back into his wheelchair. _Tough break_.

 

Donnie then had Mikey retrieve a beach ball and Karai took the cue that now they were going to work on Raph’s ability to catch things, so it would be safe to go over and talk to Leo.

 

She could practically feel April staring a hole through her head while she was over by the chicken coup, but Karai ignored it, for now.

 

“Hey” she said as she approached Leo, who was rubbing his knee.

 

“Not now” he snapped.

 

Karai raised her eyebrows “What did I do?”

 

“Nothing” he went back to rubbing his knee in annoyance. “Just everytime I make a little progress….I….my stupid knee!”

 

“What does Donnie say?”

 

“It doesn’t matter what Donnie says, my knee is messed up and I’ve been making the same progress everyday for the past week”

 

She debated putting a hand on his shoulder. That’s what people did to comfort others right, at least she had seen it done. Before she could decide Raph came up to them and basically tackled Leo in the wheelchair with a hug.

 

His brothers had been rougher with him, and surprisingly Leo was enjoying “not being treated like a flower”. So as of late Raph and Mikey would use Leo’s now shorter stance to give him noogies and wrestle him into hugs.

 

“Come on bro, toss the ball to me would ya, yer just sitting there ‘nyways”

 

Leo shook his head “Sorry, Raph.”

 

“I helped you with yer therapy, now you have ta help me with mine” Raph argued.

 

“If it makes you feel better, I’m sure when we come across a mutant beach ball you’ll be prepared”

 

“You got an issue with Donnie’s therapy plan for me, Fearless?”

 

Leo looked over at the woods “How about less therapy and more training?”

 

“Why you got that look on yer face, Leo”

 

“I don’t know, _leader_ , but maybe a game of Turtle Hunt in the woods would be a tad more conducive to getting our shell’s in gear than playing catch”

 

Raph squinted his eyes “Donnie will still say I need to do the hand eye stuf-”

 

“There’s lots of things to see in the woods”

 

Raph punched Leo in the shoulder “I like the way you think, Turtle Hunt it is then!”

 

“Shell yeah-” Leo started then grimaced “You guys have fun”

 

“You could do the counting!” Raph offered.

 

Leo smiled but shook his head “Sorry, Raph”

 

“Karai?”

 

“What?”

 

“Turtle Hunt with Don, Mike and me?” he asked.

 

Leo looked up at her “Yeah, you should do it!” then he whispered out of the side of his mouth “kick their shells for me”

 

“Hey I heard that” Raph playfully punched Leo’s shoulder “So? You coming? Come on-”

 

“Ugg fine” she relented, but truth be told whatever the hell Turtle Hunt was, it did sound fun. “I’ll play”

 

“Alright!” Raph ran back over to Donnie and Mikey shouting “It’s on!”

 

Leo sighed.

 

“You gonna be okay?”

 

He blew air out his mouth “I’m not about to cry over not being able to Turtle Hunt if that’s what you’re asking”

 

“That’s not what I was getting at”

 

“Then what were you “getting at” exactly” he asked crossing his arms.

 

There was a pause. “Alright, you got me, that was what I was going to ask”

 

“No witty comeback?”

 

“Uh...nope”

 

“Not even a biting insult?”

 

“Pulling a blank”

 

“Wow”

 

“I know, that’s messed up right?”

 

* * *

 May 1st, 2014 | 3:30 pm

* * *

“Alright turtles and snake people” Raph coughed “It’s time for the first ever nature edition of drum roll please-”

 

Mikey pounded on a tree stump

 

“-Turtle Hunt”

 

The silence spoke volumes.

 

“Anyways” Raph continued “The object of the game is simple, one hunter, three uh to-be-hunted-hiders. If you are the hunter your mission is to find the hiders as quickly as possible. No rules on how, whatever is in your tool box of skill is acceptable”

 

“Why is he talking so dramatically, man” Mikey muttered to Donnie.

 

“It comes with being a leader” Donnie muttered back.

 

“Alright, any questions?” Raph finished.

 

Donnie raised his hand but started his question immediately “Can we do teams?”

 

“What teams of two?” Raph scratched his head.

 

“I call Karai” Mikey piped up.

 

“You can’t just call dibs on Karai!” Donnie retorted.

 

“I call Mikey” Karai added. Mikey stuck his tongue out at Donnie.

 

“Everyone stop calling dibs on each other” Raph yelled. “To be fair we’ll rotate partners”

 

Everyone seemed cool with that. “Alright round one will be Donnie and me...against Karai and Mikey. We’re hunting you guys”

 

“Hey why are you the hunter?” Mikey crossed his arms.

 

Raph smiled “Because the whole reason we are playing is so I can get used to having one eye and screwed up depth precipitation”.

 

“Perception”

 

“Whatever” Raph snapped to his partner “You got one full minute to slither and run to a hiding spot….GO!”

 

Karai and Mikey were off. She was unclear as to if they should stick together or spread out but she had an idea of how to win their first round.

 

“Mikey, this way” she said just loud enough that he could hear. “I got an idea”

 

They took a hard left and Karai felt her stomach drop. Then she heard it, a snap and something sharp bit her shoulder blade.

 

“What the-” Mikey spun around looking for the source.

 

Karai reached around awkwardly and removed the bug from her shoulder. _Fucker stings_. Then her heart skipped a beat.

 

“Oh sewer apples!” Mikey yelled seeing the dart in her hand. Another snap and another dart came at them hitting Mikey in the plastron and bouncing off.

 

Mikey screamed and got on the ground, Karai lowered herself too, but her balance and sense of where the ground was betrayed her and fell to the forest floor. Mikey meanwhile backflipped off another tree and roundhouse kicked the dart gun off its mount. Mikey then ran over to it and stomped it.

 

“You guys suck at this” Raph came into view “Are you two even-”

 

He stopped and looked at Karai who was leaning against a tree, shaking. _Stay conscious_.

 

“Raph there was a dart gun” Mikey exclaimed.

 

Raph ran over to the gun Mikey had stomped “What the…”

 

“Karai?” Donnie asked.

 

 _Don’t pass out_ . Her vision was black around the edges. _Don’t fucking pass out._

 

That was the last thing she remembered before passing out.

 

* * *

 May 1st, 2014 | ????

* * *

“I don’t understand, we’ve never been spotted, why would there be traps?”

 

“Do you think The Shredder knows where we are?”

 

“No, the darts and the gun are pretty run of the mill. I am willing to bet my shell this is poacher gear”

 

“That still doesn’t mean it couldn’t be The Shredder, D”

 

“No, if it was Shredder that gun would be decked out in Kraang technology. Well at least we can assume seeing how deep in bed Shredder was with the Kraang during the invasion”

 

“Ewwww”

 

“Mikey he didn’t mean it like that”

 

“Well now I’m picturing it, Leo!”

 

“Stop picturing it then!”

 

“I can’t! Do you think Shredder would be on top-”

 

“MIKEY!”

 

Karai passed out again letting the voices melt away. She wasn’t even sure who was talking, or where she was.

 

* * *

 ???? | ????

* * *

Karai opened her eye to see a cartoon playing on the TV. Crognard she thinks she remembers correctly. She tries to open her mouth to say something but nothing moves. None of her muscles respond. Mikey is sitting cross legged on the floor in front of the TV. That must mean she was on the couch. _They must have carried me here._ She groaned internally. She was on her side, which wasn’t comfortable for her snake half but it wasn’t so terribly uncomfortable that she wanted to readjust herself.

 

She felt heavy. Exhausted. _What time was it? Fuck that. What day was it?_ She took in as much of her surroundings as she could without moving her head. Leo was in his wheelchair next to the couch a foot away from her head, barely in view. Those were the only ones in the room with her, Leo and Mikey.

 

“Hey” Leo leaned forward into her view “You’re awake”

 

 _No shit_. She blinked.

 

“Donnie said you got hit with a pretty potent dart” he continued quietly. She was grateful for that because her head was pounding. “We didn’t think you’d wake up until tomorrow”.

 

She blinked.

 

“Okay” he nodded and leaned back in his chair.. Then it happened, if Karai wasn’t numb and weak from the eyeballs down the sudden feeling of a large mutant hand resting on her shoulder would have sent her across the room. But it was obviously Leo’s mutant hand resting on her shoulder.

 

And maybe she was okay with that.

 

She closed her eyes again.

 

* * *

 May 2nd, 2014 | 2:33 am

* * *

The next time she woke up she was actually able to sit up and stretch. A throw blanket slid off her and landed on the floor. She was still inside the farmhouse, still on the couch, and the clock on the cable box read 2:33am.

 

“Shit” she whispered. _That was one hell of a dart for her to lose over half a day._ She didn’t want to continue sleeping on the couch, she didn’t want to sleep at all in fact. Karai was tired of sleeping but everyone else was asleep, so there wasn’t much to do. _Damn me for getting used to people_.

 

She could hunt.

 

_And risk getting hit by another dart?_

 

With hunting, for now, out of the question Karai decided to go outside. Get some air. Ultimately she decided to get on the roof of the house, because hell it was a nice night and unlike the light polluted city she could see every star. She’d have to point this out to Leo.

 

On the roof Karai could see a lot of the surrounding woods. It was in a way the most beautiful sight she’d seen. She always secretly loved nature. Her favorite mission under The Shredders command had been ones involving operations where she had to hike through-

 

“Come on man you can’t keep doing this”

 

Karai heard the pained whisper. It sounded like Raph. Mentally she mapped out the farmhouse and figured she was perched above the bathroom.

 

“I...I’m sorry I j- I just”

 

Someone was choking up, and Raph had called this person “man”. She considered flattening herself on the roof and looking in the window.

 

“Is it because of what happened to your girlfriend today?”

 

“No!” the other person said harshly “Why why do you also try to make a reason?”

 

“Don’t tell me you do this for no reason, Leo”

 

_Did Raph just say Leo has a girlfriend? Is he referencing me?_

 

Knowing it was Leo in there with Raph she had to see what was going on. A little voice nagged that was wrong, but that little voice can go fuck itself. She peered over the edge of the roof and down into the window. Not fully prepared for what she saw Karai almost lost her delicate balance. Leo was in his wheelchair, both his arms were resting palm up on the top of his thighs with gauze sitting loosely on them. Raph was putting more disinfectant on some cloth.

 

“I don’t Raph, I just I just needed to please don’t get Donnie”

 

“Leo, I’m going to have to get Donnie, at least five of these need stitches”

 

“You can give me stitches” Leo said with a shaky voice.

 

Raph pointed to his eye patch. “Not comfortable putting a needle in yer arm when I got this goin’ on”.

 

“Raph if you tell Donnie he’s going to freak like last time, Raph please I was so good for two weeks not a mark please don’t get Donnie” Leo was begging. She’d never seen him beg for anything. Not legitimately. Leo would beg in that sarcastic way sometimes.

 

When Raph removed the gauze Karai saw the extent of what happened. Both forearms were littered with cuts. More than just the five that Raph mentioned needing stitches. Karai wondered with how many crimson slices how the hell anyone would even put a stitch in. Not to mention the tops of his thighs were coated in blood. Some of it dried.

 

_Was he shaking from fear of Donnie’s wrath or blood loss?_

 

Leo hissed as Raph applied more antibacterial ointment. “Leo….I have to get Donnie” Raph was kneeling in front of him. “Come on man, don’t be stupid this...this is a lot of blood”

 

Leo nodded “Okay” he said quietly.

 

“Okay, I’m going to be right back” Raph rubbed the side of Leo’s shoulders. Raph was being kind to Leo, which only confirmed how bad this was.

 

Luckily he wasn’t alone long before Raph returned with Donnie.

 

The first thing out of him mouth “Donnie I’m so sorry I-”

 

Donnie raised his hand and Leo closed his mouth. It was plain and clear his two younger siblings were in charge and he was in no position to argue. Despite the shocking nature of the situation Donnie’s hands were steady as he managed to stitch three deep cuts and had to settle with tightly wrapping Leo’s arms since putting anymore stitches in at this point was impossible.

 

Leo’s hands shook violently, hell his whole body seemed to be trembling. “Alright can you set up his bed with some pillows to keep his arms elevated?” Donnie asked Raph who nodded and left the bathroom. He look back to Leo while lathering up a washcloth “Leo I’m going to clean off your thighs, okay?”

 

He just nodded slightly as Donnie with the professionalism of a doctor cleaned off Leo’s thighs.

 

“The bed is ready” Raph poked his head in while Donnie was drying off Leo.

 

Donnie nodded. “I...I can sit with him until morning, you’ve been up long enough”

 

“Thanks Donnie” Raph sighed. All three of them looked tired. Raph had that worried tired that made his appear ten years older than he was. Donnie wore a mask of professionalism. Leo stared at his toes while holding his freshly bandaged arms up per Doctor’s Orders.

 

“Okay let’s get him in bed” Raph coaxed. Karai noted at this point they kind of talked about Leo, and not really to him. Not that he was really responding anymore anyways.

 

They wheeled him out of the room and Karai leaned down more to get a better look.

 

And fell off the fucking roof.

 

 _Fuck_. She laid in a heap two stories under the bathroom window. “Smooth fucking move” she scolded herself quietly.

 

She circled back to the front of the farm house and let herself in. Rolling her shoulders and making sure she didn’t look too much like she just face planted off the roof, she slithered up stairs and pretended to innocently barge in Leo’s room.

 

Both Raph and Donnie were startled by her. “Oh, uh am I interrupting something?” she asked, faking a tired voice.

 

Leo looked up at her eyes wide in horror but as soon as they made eye contact he looked down and away. He was in bed, somewhat propped up, his arms resting on pillows at his side thickly wrapped in bandages.

 

“No, not at all” Raph responded quickly “why are you here?”

 

“I sleep under the bed?” Karai said this as though Raph was stupid for asking. “Why else?” “ _I’ll watch him”_ were the words left unsaid.

 

Raph and Donnie both jerked their heads in an “oh yeah” manner. “Right, well uh goodnight you two” Raph said.

 

“Yeah, goodnight guys…” Donnie followed Raph out of the room. They had taken the hint. She hoped.

 

When the door closed she turned back to Leo who was still for the most part avoiding eye contact with her. “Rough night huh” she stated.

 

Leo didn’t reply.

 

She coiled up next to the bed. “I’ll be real, I am not tired and I didn’t come in here to sleep under the bed”.

 

He still was not making eye contact.

 

“I don’t have any stories about my siblings getting their heads caught in chairs either” she added.

 

He looked at her now “What are you trying to do, Karai” he asked softly.

 

She shrugged “Fuck if I know. Cheer you up? I’m not very good at this you know”.

 

“I know”

 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

 

“Just stop, Karai” he closed his eyes “Stop”.

 

She folded her arms on the bed and rested her head on top on them.

 

“What are you doing?” he asked opening his eye again.

 

“You said I can talk to you, right?”

 

He nodded.

 

“Well you know you can talk to me too, about anything.”

 

“Not this” he said firmly.

 

Karai sighed but stayed where she was “Whatever”

 

With that Leo closed his eyes and at some point she did too.

 

* * *

May 2nd, 2014 | 7:15 am

* * *

“Breakfast will be ready soon” Donnie nudged her shoulder. Karai woke up in the same position she was last night. “I need to check something”

 

Karai took the hint. Leo was awake, barely. Giving yourself over thirty cuts does that she supposed. “Right” she slithered away from the bed and to the door to let Donnie change Leo’s bandages.

 

Once in the kitchen Karai was happy to see it was sausage gravy and biscuits. She was craving meat, even if it was ruined by being cooked. Mikey was stirring the gravy while the sausage drained when Raph came in looking tired. “Hey Mikey can I talk to you for a moment?”

 

Mikey looked up “Sure!” he turned to her “Hey Karai keep the gravy from scorchin’ would ya?”

 

She nodded and slithered over to the stove and Mikey handed her the spoon. “What’s up Raph?” he asked as Raph led him out of the kitchen.

 

It wasn’t long before Mikey returned but he looked sad, and then when he saw Karai looking at him he smiled brightly and took over gravy watch again. Raph was close behind. Karai could imagine what the conversation was about.

 

When they finally sat down for breakfast, Donnie was still with Leo. The atmosphere was painfully awkward without Mikey actively trying to engage everyone in a conversation.

 

“Aren’t ya gonna eat, Mikey?” Raph asked through a mouthful of biscuit.

 

Mikey shook his head and stood up leaving his untouched plate on the table. He went into the kitchen and grabbed another plate. On that plate he dished up a single biscuit and a moderate amount of sausage gravy. Then he grabbed his plate off the table. “I’m going to go eat with Leo”

 

As he left Casey and April stared daggers at Raph. “What did you do?” April asked in a disappointed mother tone.

 

“Nothing!” Raph retorted. “Stop looking at me like that!”

 

“Then tell us what happened!” both April and Casey demanded.

 

Donnie came into the dining room and took in the scene before him before ultimately deciding to address Raph “Did you send Mikey up with food for Leo?”

 

“Nope” Raph went back to his food.

 

Donnie nodded. April stood up suddenly making her chair scrape on the floor.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

Donnie and Raph shared a look at each other.

 

“Don’t glance at each other, what’s going on? Is there something wrong with Leo?”

 

“No”

 

“Not entirely”

 

The mixed responses made April squint at both of them. Karai wanted to slither backwards out of the room.

 

“Do you know what’s going on?” April asked her.

 

Karai shrugged pushing her biscuit around in the gravy.

 

“Alright then” April walked toward the door “I’ll go ask Leo-”

 

“No!” both Raph and Donnie yelled.

 

The room was frozen, except for the sound of Karai’s fork as she pushed her biscuit back and forth.

 

“No?” April asked.

 

Donnie bit his lip and looked at Raph again.

 

“Again with the glances” Casey sighed.

 

Raph cleared his throat “There was uh….an incident this mornin’ but...everything is taken care of now”.

 

“Leo just needs to take it easy for a few days” Donnie added.

 

“Did something happen to his leg?” Casey asked.

 

“No, it wasn’t his leg” Donnie admitted.

 

“Then what was it?” April pushed the two turtles for more details.

 

Raph stood up with his empty plate “Ain’t really any of yer beeswax, Red”.

 

“Like hell it is our beewax Raph!” Casey exclaimed. “Leo might not be our brother but he is our friend”

 

Donnie sighed “I’m going to tell them” he looked at Raph.

 

Raph shook his head “That’s on you then, I’ll be outside training”.

 

“Let me grab some breakfast, and then I’ll tell you” he looked at Casey and April then to Karai’s surprise he also looked at her. “Okay?”

 

The two humans and one mutant snake nodded as Donnie went into the kitchen to get his own breakfast.

 

When he came back the table was silent, April was sitting down again. Donnie took a deep breath and started his version of the events.

 

“Around 3am last night Raph woke me up saying he needed my help and that it was urgent.  He led me to the upstairs bathroom where Leo was and his condition was potentially life threatening. On his left arm, the arm I believe he started with their were nineteen cuts. Of the nineteen four were deep enough to require stitching but because of their proximity to other cuts I could only stitch two of the four. I wrapped his arm tightly to slow the bleeding. On his right arm there were fourteen cuts, one of which was deep enough require stitches but again given the proximity to other cuts I could not put stitches in and I settled for tightly wrapping his arm. Raph and I then cleaned him up and placed him in bed with his arms elevated above his heart. Karai spent the rest of the night with him.”

 

There was a pause where Donnie put some food in his mouth.

 

“I don’t know what else to say, Leo isn’t being an open book about this to us. We found out when we put him in the tub….but I suspect this behavior is far from new. I believe he has been doing this since we were young. All of us have memories of Leo getting in trouble with Master Splinter for having a ninja star in his room, and I remember walking in on him sawing at his leg with a pair of scissors when we were nine but I assumed I had seen it wrong.”

 

“Was he trying to commit suicide or something?” Casey face was scrunched up is disbelief.

 

Donnie drummed his fingers on the table. “I doubt it, but the possibility has crossed our- well my mind”.

 

Karai went back to scraping her biscuit and gravy.

 

“He’s always been one to take one for the team” Donnie added as the silence pressed in. “I chalked it up to him being leader, but he is self destructive”

 

April wiped a tear off her eye with the edge of her napkin. “I thought you told us his legs were getting better, D?”

 

Donnie nodded “Better, but now that he was most of his feeling and movement it doesn’t change the fact that his right knee is causing him pain. I mean go a few months not feeling something and any feeling will be overwhelming”

 

* * *

 May 2nd, 2014 | 11:00 pm

* * *

She woke up to footsteps. Immediately she peered out from under the bed, she didn’t hear the door open, the click would have woken her.

 

Slithering out from under the bed she saw Leo had walked over to the window and held onto the frame looking outside. “Just me, Karai” he mumbled.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“I don’t know” he said quietly. “I had a dream that I walked to this window”

 

“And?”

 

“Guess it wasn’t a dream”.

 

A distant boom made both of them whip their heads to the west just in time to see a poof of fire. Thankfully very far away.

 

“Was that part of your dream by chance?”

 

“Nope”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope to have chapter 10 out before the end of June.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love is a four letter word. April is a five letter word. Donnie is a six letter word. Bigfoot is a seven letter word.

* * *

May 9th, 2014 | 11:00 am

* * *

Karai kept a steady hold on the groceries while listening to Casey and April.

 

“That guy gives me the creeps” April said as soon as she put her seatbelt on.

 

Casey started the car “Well at least it’s our last stop before home”

 

“What kind of question is “have you been feeling tired lately?” anyways?”

 

“I don’t know, everyone up here is creepy, Red”

 

April looked out the passenger side window. “Poacher traps in the woods, creepy store owners asking if we’re tired, oh and last week Leo and Karai saw an explosion in the woods”

 

“You’d think leaving the city we’d also left the crazy shit behind us” Casey snorted.

 

“Yeah” April sighed.

 

“Oh come on Red, cheer up. Do you want me to talk to him?”

 

“No, definitely not, Jones” April huffed “You’ll hurt his feelings”

 

“Maybe he needs his feelings hurt…”

 

“Casey!”

 

“What, he gave you a music box” Casey took his eyes off the road to look at her “If that’s not a concern-”

 

“Alright alright alright!” April cut him off “I’ll say something to him. I’ll say something. You stay out of this”

 

“Fine” Casey sighed.

 

Karai kept looking from the back of Casey’s head to the back of April’s.

 

“Karai, what would you do if Leo gave you a music box?”

 

The question took her off guard. She studied the back of April’s head for a moment. The redhead was trying to push the conversation into new territory. Karai wasn’t having it. “Is it a weapon?”

 

“....the music box?” April asked slowly.

 

“Yeah”

 

“...let’s go with no?”

 

“Then it serves no purpose”

 

April looked back at her with a funny face “Sure it serves a purpose”

 

Talking about the hypothetical music box now instead of what she would do if she was given a music box put the conversation in a more comfortable place. She now could steer April away from Leo. “What would that purpose be?”

 

“It’s sentimental” April responded with indignance.

 

“How is that “serving a purpose” O’Niel?” _Did I just use air quotes?_ Karai caught a bag from tipping as April turned around. Karai has a few pictures of her mother, she keeps those precious pictures in a water tight case, that was sentimental, but those picture served a purpose. “What?” she snapped when April continued to stare.

 

“Okay so what would you do if Leo gave you a sentimental, not-a-weapon music box?”

 

April busted down the tactful work it took to get her off the subject. Karai rolled her eyes “He would never give me a music box” _That was true_.

 

“Alright forget I asked” April deflated. She slumped down in her seat.

 

_What the hell was that about?_

 

Casey huffed “He’s a giant turtle, is there really a discussion here?”

 

It was times like this Karai almost regretted going with them to the store, the urge to stir up shit was strong, especially with Jones.

 

However opportunities to stir up shit were as rare as smelling the fucking daffodils.

 

Karai isn’t sure she has ever smelled a daffodil.

 

“You got a problem with mutants, Jones?” she hissed behind him.

 

“What?” he sputtered leaning forward in his seat “No it’s just...seriously he’s a giant turtle! I mean you really want to get in bed with...that?”

 

“Whoa whoa whoa” April broke in “No one is talking about getting in bed with anybody, he just gave me a music box”

 

“Guys don’t make music boxes out of friendship, Red”

 

April was quiet. “I know”

 

* * *

 May 9th, 2014 | 11:45 am

* * *

Arriving back at the farmhouse it was obvious something was going down. They could already hear yelling as they pulled up. They all braced themselves for a fight.

 

“You can’t bring Bigfoot home!”

 

“Thank you Leo, that’s what I 'ave been trying to tell 'em!”

 

Casey got out of the van “What the hell is that” he pointed to the large ape Mikey was pushing through the door of the farmhouse.

 

“Auuurrrrggghhh” Mikey said as he pushed the ape through the door.

 

“Is that Bigfoot?” Casey asked.

 

Bigfoot landed on his ass inside the farm house “How come everyone know Bigfoot name” he laughed.

 

“We can’t keep Bigfoot here!” Leo said as he walked down the stairs one step at a time “Donnie what is wrong with you?”

 

“Bigfoot is the link between humans and the apes, Leo!” Donnie said excitedly “This is a monumental scientific discovery!”

 

“What, more so than giant talking turtles?” Casey rounded on Donnie.

 

Donnie used his height to tower over Casey “You got something to say to me Jones?”

 

“Enough you two!” Raph came between them and pushed them away. More forcibly than needed.

 

“He’s hurt” April noted seeing the scratches on Bigfoot’s arm “I’ll get the first aid kit! Casey go unload the groceries.”

 

“Sure thing, Red” Casey said cheerfully before sneering at Donnie who stuck his tongue out it retaliation.

 

“Leo do somethin’, kick Bigfoot out”

 

Leo sighed “It’s a hurt woodland creature Raph, once Mikey sees and names it... it’s too late”

 

“Oh sure, but when I wanted a dog you guys said no way” Casey ranted as he walked through with four bags of groceries.

 

“That was a coyote, you cave mouth” Donnie retorted.

 

“And no one would have known if you hadn’t said anything, poindexter”

 

Leo rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’m going for a walk”

 

“Technically, that’d be “going for a 'limp' my bro”

 

Leo stared at Mikey.

 

“Alright, my bad, go for a walk then” Mikey amended.

 

Leo limped past Karai with his crutches.

 

“Yeesh, what crawled up his ass?”

 

Mikey gave her an incredulous look.

 

“It’s a saying Mikey” Karai added quickly but the damage was already done.

 

He looked behind him “There’s nothing out here that would-”

 

“Oh did we not tell ya” Raph faked a shocked expression. He looked dramatically at Karai “I guess we didn’t tell him about the poop pixies!”

 

“AHHHHH” Mikey screamed which made Bigfoot look at them concerned.

 

“Raph don’t put ideas in his head” Donnie said warningly while patching up Bigfoot’s arm, April at his side.

 

Raph put his hands up in mock surrender “Would you rather our baby brother not be prepared?”

 

“Prepared for what?” Mikey ran up to Raph and clutched the front of Raph's shell “Tell me!”

 

“This is the blanket monster all over again” Donnie mumbled.

 

Karai, figuring nothing good would come of her sticking around, left to go find Leo.

 

Luckily for her, he hadn’t gone far. He was only just reaching the edge of the woods when she slithered up next to him.

 

“So...eventful morning then” she tested the waters.

 

“Pffft” Leo stopped to adjust his crutches “Eventful is one word for it. I can’t believe they found Bigfoot”

 

“It happens”

 

“Oh and then they brought Bigfoot home!” Leo exclaimed. “Like that’s not going to lead to something now!”

 

Karai furrowed her brow “What do you mean?”

 

“Oh you just wait, I give it two days before suddenly us being in the company of -of -of Bigfoot causes a rogue predator to try and eat Mikey or the military will show up. Something is about to go down!”

 

“You’ve put way too much thought into this.”

 

“Someone has to!”

 

* * *

 May 9th, 2014 | 7:30 pm

* * *

Leo crunched on a piece of popcorn “Do you ever feel like you are missing a large part of the story?”

 

Karai nodded while taking in the scene before them. Donnie was on Bigfoot’s lap being fed popcorn, by hand. His face was a mixture of fear and extreme discomfort. At some point during the movie Donnie became Big Foot’s lap dog. Karai and Leo had accidentally touched hands earlier while eating popcorn and were too busy ignoring each other to notice Donnie’s predicament...until now.

 

“Because I feel like we are missing a very large part of the story” Leo continued slowly, his face contorting giving voice to the internal debate on whether he should intervene.

 

“You have- you have no idea Leo” Raph sputtered between fits of laughing. Next to him Casey was barely holding on to his composure.

 

“Help me” Donnie mouthed making eye contact with Karai.

 

She slowly shook her head and went back to watching the movie.

 

* * *

 May 9th, 2014 | 9:00 pm

* * *

Leo came back into ~~his~~ their room smelling like a flower. They all smelled like flowers ever since Cherry Blossom body wash went on clearance and everyone but Mikey complained that without the musk of the sewers, mutants had B.O. just like humans.

 

She turned to see him limp in. In a weird way he was naked, but then again were any of the turtles ever clothed? The knee-pads and wrappings didn’t leave much to the imagination. He sat on the edge of the bed putting on the wrapping around his arms and she went back to trying to feed Mr. Tubbs.

 

“Seriously, eat the fucking rabbit”

 

Leo laughed.

 

“It’s right there, come on you stu- finally!” she closed the lid with a smug smile.

 

“We could get an air mattress set up in here you know” Leo said casually.

 

Karai rummaged through her bag for a night shirt and her tooth brush before giving the turtle a look.

 

“I mean so you don’t have to keep sleeping under the bed” he added awkwardly.

 

She shrugged “Under the bed is fine”

 

As Karai left the room and headed towards the bathroom Mikey walked past her. “Hey is Leo still up?”

 

She nodded.

 

Mikey walked into the bedroom, from the bathroom Karai could hear the conversation, and silently berating herself for it she listened anyways.

 

“Poop pixies are first of all obviously made up, secondly Raph told you about them, and thirdly can this wait until tomorrow?” Leo rattled off before Mikey could get a word in.

 

There was a pause. “Okay firstly bro, it’s not about the poop pixies. Thirdly it’s about Donnie and Raph”

 

_What happened to “secondly”?_

 

“What about Donnie and Raph?” Leo asked. She could hear him squinting at Mikey.

 

His voice changes when he squints. It’s like his voice is also squinting at you. She doesn’t remember how she figured that out.

 

“I told Donnie that his music box for April was a great idea, so then he gave the music box to April and bro” it sounded like he was shaking Leo “it did not go to plan. It went nalp”

 

“Nalp?”

 

“The plan backfired, Leo, keep up” Mikey said dramatically. Karai choked on her toothbrush.

 

Keeping her coughing fit as quiet as possible she listened as Mikey continued.

 

“She was all awkward and didn’t know how to react and Donnie was devastated. His words, not mine, but when he asked me to imagine how he was feeling it was going to be my second guess-”

 

“The point Mikey”

 

“So then Raph told him that was painful to watch and that’s how we ended up playing Turtle Hunt, to cheer Donnie up”

 

Leo moaned “How is forcing Donnie into a game of Turtle Hunt going to cheer him up after something like that?”

 

“It was Raph’s idea!” Mikey defended “Anyways, what number am I on, seventhly, Big Foot has a crush on Donnie”

 

Leo didn’t respond.

 

“Right? He complained to us that Bigfoot follows him around like a love sick puppy, then Raph told him now he knows how April feels”.

 

There was a beat of silence, Karai took the opportunity to spit and rinse.

 

“He said to Donnie that he’s a giant turtle and she’s a girl, or something like that. Told him to give it up. It’s never going to happen” Mikey continued.

 

_Ouch._

 

“And…” Leo prompted.

 

“And what bro? Go fix this!” Mikey whined.

 

Leo sighed “I guess I could talk to Donnie”

 

“Not Donnie, Leo! Raph!” Mikey interupted “He’s being a butt head!”

 

“I can’t lecture him over this, Mikey”

 

_Wait what?_

 

“He’s right, if April isn’t interested, then he should stop pursuing her. We’re mutants, Mikey….that’s….”

 

For the next part Karai didn’t need her superior hearing. Mikey was practically yelling “What so because we’re mutants we can’t like -like -like have dates or crushes or whatever?”

 

She cringed and heard Mikey storm out of the room and stomp down the stairs leaving Leo making a gutteral noise in his throat.

 

When Casey had said in the car that Donnie stood no chance with April because he’s a “giant turtle” Karai wasn’t really bothered….but Leo saying it.

 

That was different.

 

“You’re the worst older brother ever” Mikey shouted from downstairs. _That’s kind of harsh-_

 

Something slammed downstairs “Shut up Mikey, you have blame ‘n this too!” Raph snarled. _Oh_.

 

“Woah, woah woah you two” April’s voice chimed in. Karai cringed at the fear in her voice. However from her standpoint these yelling matches often turn physical.

 

Leo moaned, having heard the fight. Karai rinsed her toothbrush and slithered to the door and looked at him.

 

“Just go, I’ll be down in a second” he answered the unspoken question.

 

“If ya had ‘int encouraged ‘im to give ‘er the music box, after I told the both of ya it was a bad idea” Raph continued.

 

“You didn’t have to be so mean!” Mikey shot back.

 

As Karai slithered into the living room the sight was far from relaxed. There was popcorn strewn across the floor, evidence that someone stood up fast. The second movie, A Perfect World, was paused. Karai and Leo had opted out of staying up to watch it. Taking a shower and feeding their pets were more of a priority.

 

Raph and Mikey stood with their faces a foot apart. Karai noted that Mikey was about two inches taller than Raph. April was attempting to put herself between them. Casey was sitting on the edge of his chair with the remote posed to defend someone. It was unclear who. It was also unclear if he was going to be wielding the remote into battle.

 

What took her aback was the muffled sounds of someone being restrained. Looking to the corner of the living room she saw Donnie in the clutches of Bigfoot’s embrace. One of ~~his~~ her hairy forearms covering his mouth. It looked like the sudden yelling match had scared her into the corner trying to protect her...beloved.

 

Raph jabbed a finger into the top of Mikey’s plastron “I wasn’t being mean! I was telling him the truth!”. _Alright Casey had a point about the eye patch making him look more threatening._

 

“You made him all mopey!” Mikey scrunched his face up “You didn’t have to stomp on all his self-esteem!”

 

“Come on you two this-”

 

Raph talked over April “No, I know what this is about Mikey, ya don’t like me taking my role as leader seriously so the first thing that doesn’t go perfect you are blami-”

 

“This isn’t about you being the lea-”

 

“You don’t even know what self-esteem is ya shell head!”

 

“Enough!” Leo barked.

 

Even though he passed leadership over to Raph, the order plunged the room into immediate silence. Well Donnie’s muffled struggles still rang through.

 

“April” Leo looked at her, standing between Raph and Mikey “I am so sorry for my behavior and the behavior of my brothers in your home”.

 

Karai didn’t show her confusion, she kept her guarded expression as she watched April’s face fall.

 

“My brothers and I, sometimes forget the importance of boundaries” he put emphasis on the last word while making eye contact with Mikey “and as a result your personal life is being shouted for the whole house to hear” it didn’t take a ninja to hear the venom in the last sentence. Or to see how guilty Raph and Mikey looked.

 

“Leo, it’s-” but her mouth curled into a tight frown “thanks” she settled on before stepping away from Raph and Mikey.

 

“If you don’t mind, could I speak with my brothers alone?” his toned was even. April would read it as a polite but firm request. His brothers knew it meant a lecture of a lifetime.

 

“Yeah, yeah, of course Leo” she said quickly. “Come on Casey”

 

Casey stood up gave Raph and Mikey a look of sympathy. _Perhaps he’s been subjected to a Leonardo Lecture as well_.

 

“Uh, Ms. Bigfoot?” Leo stopped her as she followed Casey and April past him “I’d only need him for a few minutes” Leo gestured to the still struggling Donnie in her arms. Leo was sickeningly polite. It seemed to her that Leo was uncomfortable with what was going on but had no concrete way of addressing it.

 

Ms. Bigfoot frowned but ultimately let go of Donnie who immediately crawled back into the living room spitting hair out of his mouth. “Bigfoot be right outside” she said.

 

Donnie grimaced and gave her a thumbs up.

 

When everyone was out of the room, it appeared they went outside onto the porch. Leo turned to Donnie and put a hand on the top of his shell.

 

_Do they not notice I’m here?_

 

“Donnie” Leo said quietly “I want you to run”

 

_Do I say something?_

 

“W-wha?” Donnie asked

 

_Ahem. Mind if I eavesdrop? I’m a glutton for drama?_

 

“This is your chance, Donnie, run out the back and hide”

 

Donnie hugged Leo “I love you” he whispered before running past Raph and Mikey out the back of the farmhouse.

 

Leo then looked at her. _Shit_.

 

“Seriously, you too, out” he scolded.

 

She rolled her eyes. “Fine” . _He’s a year younger than me why am I taking orders from him?_

 

Yet she still left out the back, the same way Donnie had. A little bitter about not being a fly on the wall for what would be an epic lecturing, Karai caught up with Donnie.

 

He was carry a sleeping bag and a lantern. _Oh this will be good. How’d he even get that stuff so fast?_

 

“Hey Donn-”

 

“Shush” Donnie rounded on her “She’ll hear you!”

 

He squinted around apprehensively.

 

“Goodbye Karai” he added as he made his way towards the woods.

 

She followed “Wait, where are you going?”

 

It wasn’t pitch black out, but the sun had set, and he wasn’t even using his lantern. “I’m going to live in that shack”

 

Karai snorted “You’re going to live in The Creep’s shack?”

 

“Yep” Donnie said confidently “The girl I love is never going to have me and I am being romantically pursued by a monumental scientific discovery”

 

“So you are going to live in the woods?” Karai asked again.

 

Donnie nodded. He was headed in the wrong direction, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.

 

“I appreciate Mikey standing up for me” Donnie started without prompting “but...Leo’s right it must have been so awkward for April”

 

Karai hummed in agreement.

 

“I don’t think she wouldn’t not like me because I’m a turtle...would she?”

 

 _Oh fuck is he asking me?_ “Uh...well”

 

“Hey!” Donnie suddenly “You’re unbiased!”

 

“Unbiased?” _I don’t like where this is going._

 

_It’s not like I actually came out here to talk to you in attempts to solve your-_

 

_Fuck it._

 

“Yeah!” Donnie smirked “Do you think humans could find us... attractive?” he gave a nervous laugh.

 

“Uh-”

 

“Well I guess, you could answer as a straight female” Donnie pondered “Okay, as a human, well once human, what do you find attractive about us?”

 

Karai paused. “Why?” No double meaning. Truly she was lost.

 

Donnie’s eye ridges pinched together “If I play up the part of me that humans find attractive I’ll have a better shot with April”

 

_Oh duh, of course this is what you want._

 

“I really don’t know what you me-”

 

“What do you find attractive about Leo?” Donnie held out a hand “And don’t say it’s that mint leaf green skin, I mean I could wear makeup but with how little clothes we wear. There’s a simple formula to calculate the area of skin-”

 

As Donnie babbled on Karai felt her stomach drop.

 

It’s easier to lie when you don’t know the truth. She knew exactly what made Leo physically attractive.

 

“His eyes” she blurted out.

 

“His eyes?” Donnie repeated.

 

“Yeah, his eyes, they’re such a deep blue” Karai added hastily. “Calming deep water blue”

 

_Yeah the way his eyes light up when he laughs._

 

_Or when the street light catches his body glimmering in sweat while they dual. Showcasing his muscular thighs as they jump from rooftop to rooftop._

 

“Eyes, yeppers, eyes are definitely the attractive part” she stumbled over her words.

 

“Hmmm” Donnie pondered ignoring her embarrassment “I guess I could try and enhance the appearance of my eyes”

 

“Yeah” she agreed.

 

_I’d ride those thighs._

 

She felt her face flush. She was glad it was dark. _That was a particularly kinky thought, what the fuck._

 

“I don’t find any of you attractive” Karai added forcing herself to steer Donnie off of this “I mean, your eyes are the most human thing about you…” she trailed off while Donnie furrowed his brow.

 

“I guess we have that at least, thanks Karai...I’ll think about this while I’m living in the woods for the next three decades” he turned and continued his pilgrimage to The Creep’s Shack.

 

Karai slithered after him “Hey what do mutant turtles find attractive?”

 

They continued walking (and slithering) into the woods. Donnie blushed slightly at her question “Well, I mean…” but he stopped.

 

He also stopped walking.

 

“Donnie?”

 

The traveling mutant scowled into the darkness. “That is a really good question” he said after a few painfully long moments.

 

_It is?_

 

“I’ve never actually thought about it. What I am physically attracted to” his eyes looked around the woods, lost in thought. “I mean, as turtles...well tortoises technically, we should be pursuing females of our own species before mutation. But then as humans, any female would be a potential mate…”

 

Karai stared wide eyed. “What?”

 

“Oh right, I guess also as humans we could not necessarily be only heterosexual so that opens up another complication” Donnie continued. “Not that I would have a problem with any of us being gay” he added quickly “it’d just be complicated”.

 

“What do you specifically like about April?” Karai pushed past his tangent.

 

“Physically? I don’t know…” he said defeated “I just know I could talk to her for hours without stopping. I like it when she’s in awe of my inventions….I just like her” he looked at Karai excitedly “you know April was my first friend outside our family. And she didn’t look at us like we were freaks, heck she didn’t mind Sensei being a giant rat! She likes being around me and I really like being around her. And when I'm not around her I feel lonely. I can’t explain what I specifically like about April. She’s just perfect...to me”

 

“Oh”

 

Donnie sighed. “I can’t run away, this is irrational. I just have to face this head on. What am I thinking? Living in the woods? I have such crap sense of direction I’d be lost in an hour!”

 

“Well, you have been walking in the opposite direction of the shack so…”

 

* * *

 May 10th, 2014 | 6:45 am

* * *

Karai woke up feeling... frustrated. For one, that really lewd thought only got worse with time. In fact by the time she and Leo officially retired for the night, the thought had gone from her riding those thighs to figuring out the finer details.

 

Details such as her being topless, his strong muscular hands gliding from her hips to her ass. How his-

 

_What the fuck is that smell?_

 

Her weird blurry sex dream drifted away and was literally replaced with the smell of shit.

 

She heard the bathroom door open.

 

“Oh hey Bigfoot” Raph voice could be heard from the hall.

 

“Bigfoot make waste” Bigfoot laughed.

 

“Uh” Raph said slowly “Bigfoot make waste?”

 

She heard Raph walk into the bathroom, a second passed before he ran out and slammed the door behind him. “BIGFOOT!”

 

Even though she felt it coming, instinct betrayed her and she whipped her head up smacking it on the underside of the bed.

 

Leo was also now awake. “What’s going on?” he hollered.

 

“AH TELL YA WHAT’S GOING ON, BIOLOGICAL WARFARE!” Raph exclaimed.

 

Karai cursed and rubbed her head. _Alright the smell is a turn off at least_. Leo got up to investigate.

 

“We have got to get rid of Bigfoot!” Raph started arguing “She’s an animal!”

 

Leo sighed. “I know, I’ll talk to Donnie about what we are going to do in the long term”

 

Not really caring Karai slithered lethargically from under the bed and over to Mr. Tubbs tank. The farmhouse smells like shit, it was a perfect opportunity to slither around the Farmhouse and close by woods. She peered under the bark log to see him coiled up in sleep.

 

It was kind of cute.

 

Leo wobbled out of the room. She stripped off her her night shirt, and fumbled in her pack for a fresh bra. Hooking it behind her back she then pulled out a T-Shirt from a plastic shopping bag. Karai wondered who did laundry around here.

 

As she was unfolding her clean shirt the bedroom door opened again and she jumped.

 

“Don’t go in th- Oh! Ah sorry!”

 

She turned to see Leo in the doorway, time slowed down as he quickly smacked his hands over his eyes and the crutches under his arms fell on the floor with a loud smack. Leaving him posed in the doorway balanced on one foot and blind.

 

She cackled, almost doubling over.

 

“I’m so sorry I should have knocked” he said quickly, hands still glued to his face. She could barely hear it for the sound of her own laughter.

 

The combined commotion brought Raph back upstairs with Casey on his heels.

 

Casey looked over Leo’s shoulder, it was easy since he was taller than Leo. “Woah dude, on your way to second base already!”

 

Raph closed his eye, and slid past Leo. “Casey shut the fuck up and help me!”

 

Casey winked at Karai. “You doing anything later?” he asked her.

 

Still laughing, she flipped him off.

 

“Casey stop flirtin’ and help me!” Raph found the crutches and placed them up against Leo “Leo grab the fucking crutches”

 

“What am I supposed to help you with man?” Casey asked still staring at Karai.

 

Raph pointed, his eye still closed, at the wall next to Karai. “Leo’s innocence is being attacked. Leo you can keep yer eyes closed and grab the crutches!”

 

Leo had his eye squeezed shut as he reached down and grabbed the crutches. This only made her laugh harder.

 

“There ya go buddy!” Raph said encouragingly as he grabbed Leo by the shoulders and spun him around so he could walk out of the room. “Yer safe now”

 

Casey still stood in the doorway, he mimicked a phone with his hand and placed it to his ear. “Call me” he mouthed.

 

A Raph colored hand grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him into the hall.

 

* * *

 May 10th, 2014 | 7:00 pm

* * *

“This is, uh...wonderful” April said wincing as she stared into the pot on the stove.

 

Bigfoot nodded “Bigfoot make Donnie food to say thank you for saving Bigfoot”

 

April nodded as politely as she could muster “I’m sure he’ll...uh...he’ll love it!” she spotted Karai also in the kitchen. “Don’t you think Donnie will just love this ….stew, Karai?”

 

She shrugged back. “Yes, just the other day Donnie saw a squirrel and said to me ‘oh boy I’d just love to eat an entire squirrel floating in a pot of boiled salty water’”

 

This made Bigfoot smile “Donnie will like Bigfoot’s dinner then!” she said happily.

 

“I’m sure” Karai replied, having trouble keeping her tone even as she watched April dry heave a little.

 

April left the room and Karai followed behind her, not really wanting to be left alone with Bigfoot.

 

“So I guess Raph had Bigfoot take Donnie and Mikey out into the forest to teach them how to be one with nature?” April said as she waved Karai to continue to follow her further away from Bigfoot. They settled on standing on the front porch.

 

Karai tried to imagine how that went. “I feel like there is more to this story”

 

“Well yeah, according to Mikey midway through she got spooked and picked both of them up and ran back here” the red head hesitated “I think there is something out there”

 

“Don’t say that” Leo added.

 

Both girls looked over to see Raph and Leo sitting in chairs on the porch. “Oh sorry we didn’t know you were out here” April apologized.

 

Raph shrugged “Don’t be, me an’ Fearless jus’ finished up his PT” he took a swig from his beer “Tell ‘em how far ya walked without yer crutches”

 

Leo looked up from the tea cup cradled in his hand. Shooting a glare at Raph he placed the cup down and then pointed to the barn “From there” he pointed to where the treeline starts “to there”.

 

“That’s great Leo!” April said brightly.

 

Karai nodded not knowing what else to say. Leo was looking at the woods anyways. He sipped his tea.

 

Raph scowled “You wanna join us?” he held up his beer “We got plenty of these”

 

“I’m going for a walk” Leo said abruptly. He stood, wavering, grabbed his crutches and swung himself off the porch with ease. Leaving his tea behind.

 

Raph threw his arms up in defeat “alright I’m gonna go find Casey you two have fun out ‘ere alone i guess” he picked up his beer and headed in brushing past Karai with a buzzed stumble.

 

“Er…” April began.

 

Karai and her stood there together on the porch, she was staring at the back of Leo’s shell that was slowly getting smaller as he limped away. April waved a hand on front of her eyes.

 

“Karai?”

 

She flinched “What?”

 

“I’ve been trying to- just nevermind, go” she said lightly.

 

Karai wavered slightly. “Uh I’ll catch you later?”

 

April smirked “Of course” she turned back towards the farmhouse “I have to check on Bigfoot anyways” she added before walking back towards the house “so go after him”.

 

* * *

 May 10th, 2014 | 7:20 pm

* * *

“So from the edge of the barn to the treeline, huh?” she said to the scowling mutant turtle she was slithering next to. “Pretty neat”. She popped the “t” in neat.

 

Leo continued to limp.

 

“Nice weather we are having” she continued making a show of staring up at the sky. “Clear skies”.

 

Leo continued to limp.

 

“Did you see the weather report this morning? There was an impressive pool of drool on the tables in front of the anchors”

 

Leo continued to limp.

 

“I have a theory that it’s a combined pool of all three anchors drooling, not just one anchor”

 

Leo continued to limp.

 

“That’s just far too much drool for one person to make”

 

Leo sighed. A heavy, long, exaggerated sigh.

 

“What? You think it is one anchor’s drool pool?”

 

“This is a new low for you” he deadpanned.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Mikey makes better small talk than you”

 

Karai crossed her arms “Hey give me some credit, normally I don’t need to sweet talk anyone into telling me what’s on their mind”

 

Leo raised a brow. “This is what you think “sweet talking” is?”

 

“I just usually start cutting fingers off-”

 

“Alright, you’ve made your point” Leo huffed and continued to limp his lap around the farmhouse.

 

“So you are going to tell me what’s on your mind?” she asked trying to hide the impatience in her voice.

 

Leo continued to limp.

 

Karai scowled “Is this because you almost saw my bra?”

 

“What?” his face was tinged in a small blush “No! That’s..not that’s not it, but thanks for the reminder!”

 

_Bingo._

 

“Is this how turtles get over pent up sexual thoughts?” Karai mused aloud. “Walks?”

 

Leo’s face continued to be red “I do not have any” he stopped propping his crunches against him so he could put “pent up sexual thoughts” in air quotes. “I’m just...can’t a guy just go for a walk?”

 

“Is it because Raph made you tell April and I how far you walked?”

 

To that Leo frowned at her, aggressively readjusted his crutches and limped a fraction faster than he had before. It was a silent screaming “yes”. She gave him a little more space, slithering a little more to the side and slightly behind him. Even though her competitiveness clawed at her lungs, the tickling thought that he was limping faster than she was slithering, even if she was purposefully slithering slower.

 

She was trained for this as much as she was trained to kill. Men like being able to show off, dominate. A favorite tactic of hers was while her father would be in a meeting she’d lure one of their guest’s body guards away from his post. Only one, leaving plenty to guard their boss.

 

Karai wasn’t after the boss, ~~her father~~ The Shredder handled the business side of things. One day she would be the daunting business woman by day and the leader of a deadly ninja clan by night. In that moment she seduced bodyguards into saying things they shouldn’t, letting them slip forbidden secrets in her ear.

 

Leo’s limping slowed, so inevitably she caught up. She could hear his heart beating faster than usual, she could see the muscles in his better leg, the one he favored, shake. He slowly bent his knees and moved his hands down his crutches. Gently and awkwardly he lowered himself onto the grass.

 

Having a lack of legs made her version of sitting a little more tedious. There was the whole ordeal of figuring out where to center herself. Did she want to be in the center of the coil with the rings of her snake form around her? Did she want to have her tail in the center so she could quickly slither away? Was the ground scratchy? Perhaps it would be appropriate to do a layered coil?

 

“What are you doing?” Leo asked, not with judgement, but certainly with confusion.

 

Karai stopped realizing she had been slithering around her target spot, trying to line herself up for a good coil, but it was easier said than done “This is, this is a lot harder than it looks!”

 

Leo didn’t say anything for a moment “Well don’t tie yourself in a knot”

 

She stared at him.

 

He stared back, the beginning of a mischievous smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.

 

If this were New York, he’d be turtle soup. It’d be a pursuit through the city for such a horrible joke. Sure she had made her share of turtle related jokes.

 

But this, this would not stand.

 

She reached into the grass and pulled out two handfuls of it and threw them at him. It was anticlimactic as the few hundred blades of grass floated down on him while she scowled.

 

“That was the worst fucking joke” she said trying to sound angry.

 

“I thought it was great!”

 

“Yeah, well keep your day job”

 

“My day job? How much prime time TV have you been watching?”

 

“Shut the fuck up”

 

She found herself a comfortable place to coil during the banter. They both stared off into the woods for a while.

 

“What if there is something out there?” Leo broke the silence.

 

“Wouldn’t they...you know attack us by now?” Karai turned her head to see him better. He had one leg straight out in front of him, the bad one, the other bent with his arm on his knee, his head on his arm. His other arm was keeping him balanced. He looked tired. “It could be some natural predator, a bear”

 

There was silence again. It brought Karai back to quiet nights where she would just sit next to Leo on a broken billboard. They didn’t need words. It was enough to walk pigeons sleep in broken gutters, or wonder about the homeless people they watched.

 

“Do you miss having legs?”

 

“No” she answered without thinking. No filtering. She hadn’t known the answer to that question, but if her immediate response was that she didn’t, it wasn’t really a question anymore.

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t catch you” he said quietly.

 

“I don’t remember the mutation, Leo”

 

Now it was his turn to turn his head to look at her.

 

She felt around in the grass until she found his hand “But I’m sure you pulled some self sacrificing bullshit move in attempts to save me”.

 

Leo laughed.

 

Karai smiled.

 

The fridge came flying out of the farmhouse. It flipped a few times top over bottom before stopping a few yards away. They were both tense, Leo had leaned into her away from the noise, she put a steadying hand on the back of his shell.

 

The freezer door fell open onto the lawn revealing a very disgruntled frozen dessert feline.

 

* * *

 May 10th, 2014 | 8:05 pm

* * *

_How did I get roped into this?_

 

“Okay Karai, you work on the braids and I’ll continue to blend the foundation” April instructed, pleasantly.

 

_How did I get roped into this?_

 

“Where...where do I stop making braids?” she asked April who was attempting to blend two differ palettes into a Bigfoot skin tone.

 

_How did I get roped into this?_

 

“Just use your best judgement” April spoke out of the corner of her mouth.

 

_How did I get roped into this?_

 

“Oh…kay”

 

_How did I get roped into this?_

 

“Bigfoot, would you like a red bow or a pink bow?” April held the bows up.

 

_How did I get roped into this?_

 

“Bigfoot thinks the pink bow is pretty” Bigfoot said.

 

_How did I get roped into this?_

 

April smiled back, awkwardly. “Pink bows it is then” she handed the bows to Karai.

 

_How did I get roped into this?_

 

* * *

 May 10th, 2014 | 8:20 pm

* * *

There was something tragic about watching Donnie runaway from Bigfoot after all the work April and her had put into the makeover.

 

Bigfoot, unlike a boy crazed teen did not pursue Donnie afterwards. She instead looked dejected into the squirrel stew she’d worked on. April, tried to console her, but Bigfoot’s big heart was broken.

 

Karai literally could not give less of a fuck.

 

April was pretending to give a fuck, trying to show empathy.

 

Leo was barfing on the inside but outwardly tried to focus on his new mug of tea.

 

Mikey was moments away from making two dolls in Donnie and April image just so he could make them kiss.

 

Raph and Casey went after Donnie, most likely to tease him. Bigfoot went off by herself.

 

It left Mikey, Leo, April and Karai to sit in a slightly depressing silence before Mikey went to find Donnie.

 

April put another kettle on the stove, so the three of them could have a fresh cup of tea.

 

“Well, hopefully things won’t be too awkward now” Leo offered as April poured the fresh tea into three new tea cups.

 

April stared at her tea.

 

“Hey April” Karai spoke up and paused waiting for her to look up. “Remember the other morning in the van?”

 

Leo looked lost, but April nodded.

 

“You asked me what I would do if...well I would keep it” she waited to see something in April’s body language, a sign she was getting it. “It’s not the the thing so much, it’s who it comes from, that’s why I would keep it”

 

“Even if it’s not a weapon?” April asked with a hint of teasing.

 

“Even then”

 

Leo squinted at them both “What?”

 

* * *

 May 10th, 2014 | 8:40 pm

* * *

Shit hit the fan moments later. Bigfoot ran past Donnie and Mikey who were talking on the porch. Apparently she overheard Raph and Casey making fun of her while they were working on some farm equipment in the barn.

 

Did it really count as working on it if they were most like just messing with it while slightly drunk?

 

Donnie and Mikey ran after her.

 

By the time Raph and Karai had managed to locate the trio in the pitch dark of night the scene they walked into was scarring.

 

Bigfoot was embracing a middle aged overweight balding man. Donnie and Mikey carried a plethora of bruises and abrasions, holding the same confusion Karai and Raph had.

 

“I guess everything worked out in the end?” Mikey suggested and Donnie nodded.

 

“Wha’ the fuck jus’ happened?” Raph asked quietly.

 

* * *

 May 11th, 2014 | 9:05 am

* * *

Leo and Raph stood on the porch, both leaning over the railing. Raph looked smug, holding his mug of joe (three creams no sugar, maybe a splash of bourbon but good luck proving it). Leo looked complacent, pleased with himself and cradled in his hands a mug of black tea (plain, accidentally over steeped).

 

Mikey sat on the porch steps frowning with his mug of hot cocoa (nineteen marshmallows, seven shakes of sprinkles)

 

All of them were facing the barn where April was chopping wood.

 

“So are all of you perverts just watching April bust her ass in the sun?” Karai slithered up behind Raph and Leo. Neither one of the jumped and spilled their drinks which bummed her out.

 

“Yer jus’ in time for the show”

 

“You guys are lame” Mikey grumbled from the step.

 

“It’s fer his own good Mikey” Raph said taking a swig from his mug.

 

Leo nodded “Donnie and you will both come to realize this is for the best”

 

“Yeah right”

 

Karai turned to Mikey to ask what was going on but then-

 

“‘Ere he comes”

 

“I told you he just was getting his thoughts together” Leo sighed, relief in his voice.

 

Donnie walked over to April. She was thoroughly distracted. A few times Donnie attempted to draw her attention but then chickened out, his voice failing him.

 

“Come on ya dork get it over with”

 

“Give him time Raph, this isn’t easy for him”.

 

He caught her attention, April put down the axe.

 

“Ripping off the band aid now” Leo narrated.

 

Mikey huffed “Shouldn’t have to” he said quietly under his breath.

 

If Leo and Raph heard him they didn’t say anything. April frowned, Donnie continued to talk. Karai slithered next to Leo and put her arms on the railing for a better view.

 

“Ya don’t think she’ll slap him?”

 

Leo shook his head. “She’s too sweet, she’ll let him down gently, especially now that he’s giving her a clear out”.

 

Mikey groaned.

 

Donnie tapped his toes into the dirt and looked down.

 

“‘Ere it comes” Raph said slowly.

 

As Donnie stopped talking he stepped back, retreating away from her, April grabbed his wrist and pulled Donnie closer.

 

“Wait” Leo and Raph said quietly.

 

April got up on her tippy toes and kissed him. Donnie leaned down into the kiss closing the distance between them.

 

The porch fell into stunned silence. Karai glanced over at Leo and Raph, their mouths were slightly agape.

 

“I TOLD YOU” Mikey jumped up and tackled the space between his older brothers. Their beverages spilling over the front of their shells, soaking the wrapping on their wrists as he vigorously shook them. “THEY’RE IN LOVE!”

 

Mikey launched himself over the railing and lunged towards April and Donnie. “I WANT TO BE THE RING BEARER” he screamed.

 

“Wha’ the fuck jus’ happened?” Raph asked quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had some very scary stuff happen IRL. But we are back and I’m writing 500 words a day. :)
> 
> I will never abandon this fanfic. I promise that. Even if it had zero kudos and zero hits. I'm just having a blast writing it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out mopping the walls is common place if you live in the sewers...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Really vulgar talks about...about anatomy. I had to look at a lot of diagrams, and I...just, you’ve been warned...

* * *

 May 13th, 2014 | 9:00 am

* * *

“Alright, everyone know what they are doing?” April asked.

  
  
Everyone responded with various forms of “yes”.

  
  
“Then let's do this!” April punched the air with her sponge.

  
  
Mikey let out a war cry, before tackling the chandelier. Leo found the nearest window to start cleaning, Donnie began mopping, Raph literally went up the chimney.

  
  
Casey was nowhere to be found, his dust buster was laying on the coffee table abandoned.

  
  
Karia had her hands wrapped in dust rags coated in lemon pledge, gliding low next to the baseboards she polished the dry dusty wood.

  
  
The seven of them were going to make quick work of “Spring Cleaning”. Their furry guest, Bigfoot, had only been gone less than forty eight hours, and everyone was already sick of the hair she managed to leave behind.

  
  
April had enough of the dust and dirt as well. So with promises that if they gave her one day of hard work, they'd all go to the lake that very next night and watch fireworks, she’d assembled her maids.

  
  
The fireworks had caused plenty of drama. Raph and Casey had disappeared yesterday morning, shortly after a certain something between two certain someone's occurred, then they came back that night with fireworks. Donnie and April put there metaphorical combined foot down, the fireworks were locked up in the barn last night.

  
  
However the night had been anything but quiet, the farmhouse became split into opposing views about the fireworks.

  
  
“Team Sensible”, which members included April, Donnie and Leo had been firm in their resolve to keep all explosives away from “Team Fuck Team Sensible” because they would set them off.

  
  
“Team Fuck Team Sensible” had more members but soon ulterior motives kept them from getting too far. Raph and Casey were of the mindset that because they acquired the fireworks it is really up to them what they do when they steal them back. Mikey wanted to strap as many of them to his shell as possible in efforts to finally fly.

  
  
Now Karai was purely on Team Fuck Team Sensible because one it annoyed the hell out of Leo. He absolutely could not believe why she would side with Raph, Casey and Mikey.

  
  
She had seen plenty of fireworks, but nothing could be more fun than throwing Leo a curve ball.

  
  
_Curveball? I am watching to much prime time TV._

  
  
“Yes Mom” Casey groaned upstairs

  
  
“I'm not your mother, come on Casey you said you would help and you're sitting in the tub!” April scolded.

  
  
Karai stopped eavesdropping on that conversation. Casey, had accepted the circumstances. Karai suspected it was Raph who reeled his friend in from trying to assault Donnie. Whatever deal Raph had made with Casey, she was willing to bet the fireworks were to sweeten the deal. Or distract him.

  
  
She was trying her best to not accidentally listen to April or Donnie. She was making a definite effort to make sure if she did pick up part of their conversation, she would stop.

  
  
They were a couple now. Well, the words “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” hadn't been said out loud. Not to her knowledge. See she was trying to be a decent person and not eavesdrop, no matter how much she really wanted to know.

  
She was working on the baseboards in the living room when Mikey came in with a vacuum.

  
“Hey Karai, mind if I vacuum in here?” he asked.

  
  
“No”

  
  
“Groovy” Mikey smiled and started removing picture frames from the wall.

  
  
Karai squinted.

  
He plugged in the vacuum. He picked up the vacuum, held it perpendicular to the wall and turned it on. “You think they'd make an easier way to vacuum the walls!” he hollered over the roar of the machine. It's wheels squeaked as he rubbed it up and down the wall.

  
  
She nodded in agreement. “Well they make lighter ones now” _I swear Leo's sass is rubbing off on me._

  
  
Leo walked in, one crutch under his arm. “Mikey what are you doing!?” he hollered.

  
  
“What!?” Mikey hollered back.

  
  
“I said what are you doing!?”

  
  
The noise in the living room was almost overwhelming. Karai was a little bummed that Leo was going to stop Mikey's shenanigans, she certainly was content on pretending vacuuming the wall was normal.

  
  
“I'm vacuuming the wall bro!”

  
  
“Why!?” Leo asked perplexed.

  
  
“So Donnie can mop it!”

  
  
Leo scowled “I have just been sweeping the walls and he had no issues mopping those ones!”

  
  
If Leo was also messing with Mikey, he had suddenly developed the ability to tell a lie with a straight face.

  
  
“Oh!” Mikey said. He put down the vacuum and turned it off. “Do you know where the broom is?” he asked in a normal volume.

  
  
“Raph is sweeping the shingles right now, but Donnie is still mopping the walls in the big bedroom upstairs”

  
  
“Oh, what are you doing now then?”

  
  
Leo held up his Windex “I'm going to windex the outside of the house”

  
  
“What should I do”

  
  
“Oh! The lawn?” Leo offered.

  
  
Mikey frowned. “The lawnmower doesn't start anymore”

  
  
“Can't you just use the vacuum?” Leo said, face too straight and sincere.

  
  
_They aren't joking around right now._

  
  
“Hmmm, I'm pretty sure you need a lawn mower” Mikey said slowly, but he was obviously unsure.

  
  
Leo looked at Karai “Can we use a vacuum to mow the lawn? They do the same thing right?” his face was uncertain, he hung off his crutch and fiddled with the Windex bottle.

  
  
She caught herself staring at him “Yeah, they're interchangeable” she said quickly before turning around back to the woodwork so neither of them would see her shit eating smile.

 

* * *

May 13th, 2014 | 5:00 pm

* * *

“I just...I assumed they knew how to clean” April said quietly.

  
  
“It's an easy mistake to make” Karai consoled her.

  
  
A swatch of wall paper rolled off the wall behind them.

  
  
“By the time I figured out Donnie was mopping the walls...”

  
  
“It's over now” Karai said calmly

  
  
April sighed “I still don't know how Leo and Mikey thought vacuuming the lawn would work”

  
  
Karai suppressed a giggle and instead shook her head slowly “It is strange”

  
  
“I'm certain Casey probably told them that they could vacuum the lawn” April seethed “He admitted to tricking Raph into sweeping the roof”

  
  
“Is that why there are so many shingles on the lawn?”

  
  
“Yes”

  
  
“At least they didn't get vacuumed up” Karai mused. April scowled at her catching on to Karai's less than caring tone.

  
  
“Casey is such a jerk, he's bitter that I kissed Donnie so he tricked the turtles into cleaning wrong”

  
  
Karai face twitched. _Hold it together._

  
  
“I'm really surprised, none of his brothers have said a word about it to us” April continued.

  
  
April handed her another dish to dry. Normally they'd air dry them in the drainer but they wouldn't be dry in time for dinner if they did that. So April washed, Karai dried and put them back in the cupboard. It was like some normal person shit that only people in sitcoms did.

  
  
Karai placed a “World's #1 Dad Mug” in the cupboard. She didn't want to respond too much, she found April gave up more the less she put into the conversation.

  
  
Was it rude? Yes. Did it work? Definitely.

  
  
On cue April continued “Have you ever had a boyfriend? I dated a boy in the 8th grade, we went to the movies...twice, it was very awkward”

  
  
“No” she put a plate on the shelf.

  
  
April picked at a stubborn bit of food stuck to the edge of a spoon. Her nail scraping it away before she gave it another once over with a sponge. “I've never been in a real relationship before”

  
  
“Is it a relationship?” Karai asked, keeping her tone even so April wouldn't change her answer based on  how she phrased the question.

  
  
April laughed nervously “Yeah, it's a relationship. I have the flowchart to prove it”

  
  
The conversation died out there, April was lost in her own thoughts.

  
  
“We need to re-assign rooms, it's weird that Casey, Donnie and I all share the master bedroom”

  
  
“Already thinking about sex O'Niel?”

  
  
“What? No, jeez you and Casey both have your minds in the gutter” April laughed. She was used to Karai's crude behavior and no longer blushed at her attempts to throw her off. “And you are one to talk, Leo saw you in your bra”

  
  
“And was subsequently traumatized” she laughed, it was still a funny thing to look back on. “Have you not flashed Donnie?”

  
  
April gave her a shocked look “Why would I do that?”

  
  
“The reaction might be funny?”

  
  
“I'm starting to feel bad for Leo now, you are absolutely evil”

  
  
Karai smirked.

  
  
“Donnie asked me on a date” April said in a hushed voice.

  
  
Karai quirked her brow “Where?”

  
  
“At the lake tomorrow night, he said we could sneak off while everyone is messing with the fireworks, he also says it's a surprise, where we are going”

  
  
Karai laughed “How will you sneak away?”

  
  
“Raph and Casey will be busy trying to set them up in the most eventful formation, Leo will be busy keeping Mikey from doing something stupid and you will be unable to resist watching the unfolding drama from the side”

  
  
“I would not-”  
  
“Yes you would, there was a flow chart” April held up a soapy finger and handed another plate over.

  
  
Karai snatched it from her aggressively “Alright, you caught me, that's exactly what I'll be doing”

 

* * *

May 13th, 2014 | 6:30 pm

* * *

“Okay but seriously how will you two have sex?” Casey blurted out into the silent dining room.

  
  
Leo stopped chewing on his broccoli, his face red. Raph pointed a fork at Casey. “When two people love ea' other a whole lot, the woman's cooch sucks in the man's cock and bam” Raph hit the table “babies”

  
  
Donnie scowled “Actually internal reproduction occurs when two specimens-”

  
  
“We are at the dinner table” Leo pleaded.

  
  
“No” Casey shook his head and this time he looked straight at Donnie before continuing “How are you going to have sex with April?”

  
  
“Well with my knowledge of the female vaginal cavity-”

  
  
“We are at the dinner table”

  
  
April coughed loudly and placed a hand on Donnie's forearm “You know how we talked about some conversations being private?” she shot a glare at Casey.

  
  
Donnie clamped his mouth shut and cringed a little.

  
  
Silence.

  
  
Karai could feel Leo relax now that the air was free of such topics. _How do I bring this stuff back up-_

  
  
“Okay, Case', when two specimens love ea' other, a va'inal cavity will have in'ernal reproduction and bam” Raph hit the table again “babies”

  
  
Donnie groaned “Okay first of all-”

  
  
April cleared her throat and Donnie stopped mid sentence and looked back at his plate.

  
  
“It's just I've seen what the situation is down there and...it ain't pretty” Casey continued this time he looked at April.

  
  
“Ya saw my dick, not Donnie's dick” Raph said chewing with his mouth open.

  
  
“Are they different dicks?” Casey asked incredulously.

  
  
“Everyone has their own dick...except chicks” Mikey added.

  
  
Leo and Donnie both groaned for different reasons. Karai found herself eating faster now.

  
  
“You talk about dicks a lot” Karai told Casey.

  
  
“I'm just confused as to how anyone can be okay with...that” Casey defended. “How do you guys even take a piss without getting it on your face-”

  
  
“We are at the dinner table!” Leo exclaimed “And that doesn't even make sense!”

  
  
“I've never peed” Mikey scowls.

  
  
Casey's face contorted “What!?”

  
  
“Turtles don't pee” Raph added.

 

  
“Actually turtles, like a lot of reptilians have a cloaca which is a common-”

  
  
“Which is something we are not talking about at the dinner table!” Leo interrupted. Karai almost felt bad for him.

  
  
Almost.

  
  
“Okay having a cloak-”

  
  
“Cloaca”

  
  
“-doesn't explain not peeing” Casey continued. Leo stared up at the ceiling and frowned.

  
  
“Everything comes out of the same hole, Jones” Karai explained not really looking at him.

  
  
Casey looked horrified for a second. “That's so gross” he frowned.

  
  
“Hey!” Mikey said insulted.

  
  
“What? It is I mean your dick comes out of the same place your piss and shit does?”

  
  
“Actually it's not the same hole but the same-” Donnie started

  
  
Leo groaned “This is the dinner table” he said to the ceiling.

  
  
“Guys no offense but this is a little personal and it's between Donnie and I”

  
  
Casey waved a wand at her “Yeah forget that now I'm coming to the realization that only three of us in this house pee!”

  
  
“Two” Karai corrected.

  
  
The table stared at her.

  
  
“By the way I've been dragging my cloaca all over the floor for the past five months” she stabbed a fork full of pork chop and put it in her mouth making eye contact with anyone staring at her.

  
  
“Team Cloaca five, Team Weirdos Who Pee two” Mikey declared.

  
  
Leo whipped his head around to stare at Mikey “No! We are not making teams over this!” then he looked back at his plate “this is the dinner table” he said quietly.

  
  
“Wait so are your lady parts in there?” Casey asked his face still frozen in disbelief.

  
  
Karai chewed her pork chop and swallowed. “You want to find out?”

  
  
Casey got up and left. The table fell back into silence.

  
  
“Alright! Who left room for dessert!” Mikey got up and headed off to the freezer. April and Karai made eye contact.

  
  
“Thank you” April mouthed.

  
  
Karai smirked.

 

* * *

May 14th, 2014 | 3:00 am

* * *

“Leo” she yawned.

  
“Yes”

  
  
“What the hell are you doing up there?”

  
  
It had been two hours of him tossing and turning. After dinner, she went to have real dinner (a buck) and she had returned around 1am. It was now 3am and Leo had not stop adjusting himself.

  
  
“Sorry” he whispered.

  
  
He was still for a while before readjusting. The creak of the old mattress above her screaming in her ears. She slithered out from under the bed and stretched.

  
  
“What is your deal?” She groaned while eyeing the corner on the room. _Maybe I could sleep over there..._

  
  
Leo was silent, the sheets were tangled around his legs, evidence of his constant tossing and turning. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I'm going to meditate”

  
  
He grabbed his crutches and got up aiming to leave the room. She heard him quietly make his way down the staircase.

  
  
That was fine as far as she was concerned, she decided to go back under the bed and recoil herself for some real sleep.

  
  
Except now, in the silence of the room she couldn't sleep. She adjusted her position. She stuck her tail out from under the bed even though the bed skirt felt like hands grabbing her.

  
  
“Fuck” she whispered.

  
  
_Maybe I'll just go find where he is and see if he's okay._

 _  
_ _  
_ _Yeah._

  
  
Pushing down any thoughts contrary to that she left the bedroom, but with more tact than Leo had. At the door frame she stopped and listened. April and Donnie were in the master bedroom, she could hear their slow breathing. Casey, Raph and Mikey were all snoring, which meant she was clear to slither outside without anyone waking.

  
  
Leo wouldn't take a walk in the woods at 3am, so she turned left off the porch, in the dark she could see him sitting on his knees in the spot Mikey was keen of.

  
  
She stopped herself from going over there, he would ask why and she didn't have a reason for suddenly not wanting to sleep when she had kicked him out for moving so much.

  
  
Running through the scenario in her head, she lost her self confidence.

  
  
Go over there, barge in on his thoughts and make a crack at something. Why did that suddenly feel wrong?

  
  
Taking a breath in she slithered over to him.

  
  
“So talking to the grass?” she remarked.

  
  
To his credit Leo didn't jump he just opened his eyes and glanced up at her. “No...but Mikey was right about this being a nice spot”

  
  
“So any plant gossip? Everyone is doing...plant things?” she trailed off.

  
  
Leo smirked “What are 'plant things' exactly?”

  
  
“Mutating and turning into murderous farmers?”

  
  
“Don't lump all plant activities into one category based off one bad seed.”

  
  
“Fine” she laughed feeling more comfortable. He wasn't questioning why she was out here, they were just talking “So then what are you doing?”

  
  
Leo grimaced and turned his head so he was looking at the woods instead of her “I was thinking”

  
  
“A lot of people do that”

  
  
Leo nodded, but left her comment unanswered. She also looked over the woods. She wondered what he was seeing, because even with her night vision nothing was very interesting. Yet Leo's pupils moved ever so slightly, barely noticeable to anyone not looking for it.

  
  
He looked back at her thoughtfully, a battle she was not privy to was in session. “I was thinking about my coma”

  
  
_Oh_. “What about it?”

  
  
“Maybe it was a good thing” he said uncertainty, and quietly.

  
  
Karai scowled “The fuck?”

  
  
Leo face was painted with regret and shock at her response he opens his mouth but nothing came out.

  
  
“Seriously? Dying would have been better than being here?” she said louder than she meant to.

  
  
He shakes his head violently “No!” he stumbled “That's-that's not what I am saying!”

  
  
“Then spit it out!” she snapped.

  
  
Leo looked away again “It's complicated”

  
  
“This isn't Facebook or some shit, uncomplicate it”

  
  
“What's Facebook?” he asked.

  
  
“Are you fucking with me right now?”

  
  
Leo turned away again “Fine. You're right, the almost dying part was bad”

  
  
She nods at that.

  
  
“But...I think some good came out of it” he paused and started playing with his wrappings “does that make sense?”

  
  
“No” she replied harshly.

  
  
He continued anyways “I mean Raph and Donnie took over, everyone managed to work together. Mikey became a little more mature...and...well” he looked at her for a second then looked away “it just seems like a lot of good things happened, even though it was.....a really bad thing”

  
  
“So you're happy you were in a fucking coma because your brothers got what? A reality check?”

  
  
Leo laughed “No, if that was the case I would be sleeping right now” he still wasn't looking at her. He still played with his wrapping and looked anywhere but in her direction.

  
  
Karai frowned “Then what's the issue?”

  
  
“I'm pissed off” he said.

  
  
“You don't sound pissed off”

  
  
“Aren't there things that piss you off, but unless you are actively thinking about them, you aren't really angry. I'm passively pissed off that Raph and Donnie only managed to pull together as a team after I almost died not-” he stopped.

  
  
_Before_ she finishes his sentence in her head.

  
  
“How can I be a leader if I can't teach my brothers how to work as a team until after something horrible happens?” he asked.

  
  
This would be the part where Mikey would hug him and chant to him that it isn't true. _How do other people just know how to comfort someone._

  
  
_Fuck it._

  
  
She pats his right shoulder, which is really just the top right edge of the back of his shell.

  
  
“What are you even doing”

  
  
“I'm comforting you?” she asked.

  
  
“Are-are you asking me...or telling me?”

  
  
“Telling you?” she lied.

  
  
“Okay....can you stop?” he asked awkwardly.

  
  
She stopped “Did it work?”

  
  
“If I say yes, will you never do that again?”

  
  
“Alright you asshole, fuck me for trying to be nice” she laughed begrudgingly.

  
  
He laughed back stifling a yawn.

 

  
“Is this the only reason you are...meditating?” she decides to coil up next to him.

  
  
“No...”

  
  
“Tell me?”

  
  
He played with his wrappings again.

  
  
“You didn't...?” she frowned and then hid it. “Should I get Donnie?”

  
  
“What? No! It's not that” he said quickly.

  
  
She gave him a doubtful look. “Show me or I'm going to go get Donnie” she threatened.

  
  
He unwrapped his white wrist wrappings to reveal two severely scarred up wrists, but none of them were fresh.

  
  
“Alright, good” she huffed.

  
  
Leo rolled his eyes “Yeah good thing because who knows what Donnie would be doing if you had to interrupt him”

  
  
“He's probably explaining a diagram of how intercourse will work between a mutant turtle and a human”

  
  
“I don't want to think about it” Leo grimaced “But I hope they...work it out?” he said, uncertainty on the edges of his sentiment.

  
  
“Two days ago Raph and you were fucking set on getting Donnie to stop trying to hook up with April, and now you are both okay with it?”

  
  
Leo thought for a moment. “I mean, he's our little brother, we're supposed to protect him. And if he was angry at us for squashing his dream of being with April, sure he'd be mad...for a while. But eventually he'd forgive us. If he went ahead and then April rejected him? He'd be mad at himself and he would never forgive himself”

  
  
Somewhere in the woods the trees creaked in the wind, Karai tried to think of something to say.

  
  
“Donnie” Leo began “He never forgives himself for his mistakes”

  
  
“I've noticed” she added.

  
  
“Raph doesn't understand how Donnie can be attracted to humans” Leo sighed “But at least he has been helping Casey move on”

  
  
“Wait what's so bad about humans?”

  
  
“Uh...remember the cloaca conversation at the dinner table earlier?” Leo asked and went back to playing with his wrappings.

  
  
“I will never forget it” _Ever, it was too funny._

  
  
Leo shook his head “Yeah, basically that in reverse...he just doesn't think humans are pretty?”

 

Karai rubbed her eyes and fought back a yawn “Then what does he find attractive? Another mutant?”

  
  
Leo shrugged “I told him what he wants is probably out of this world”

  
  
“You're a pessimist, Leo”

  
  
He laughed again. She laughed too. Both too tired for it to be much more than a huff of air.

  
  
It was nice to be talking, and laughing in the early hours in the morning...again. Like they were in New York.

  
  
“Do you think it'll work out?” she asked still laughing a little.

  
  
“For Raph, no. But Donnie and April” he smiled “I like April, she's a good friend and she'll be good for Donnie”

  
  
“You're probably right”

  
  
Leo hummed and went back to picking at his wrappings “I mean, none of us were very good at talking to anyone but each other... April, since the day we met her has always given us really good advice”

  
  
“What kind of advice?” she asked, she was sleepy, but she could fall asleep right here next to Leo. She laughed “She give you advice on girls?”

  
  
She didn't need to see Leo face to know he was probably flustered. “Sorta” he admitted. “She was actually the first person I told about my cr-”

  
  
She fell over slightly, half asleep and Leo tensed.

  
  
“Karai?”

 

* * *

May 14th, 2014 | 7:45 am

* * *

The breakfast table the next morning was a blur. She barely remembered slithering downstairs. She stirred her Fruit Loops. She didn't remember even pouring herself a bowl of Fruit Loops. The sugary o's floated in their bath of off-white milk, their artificial dye trailing out, highlight the small ripples she made with her spoon.

  
  
She was bone tired. It wasn't that she regretted staying up talking with Leo until they...she tried to remember what they had been talking about. Something about April and Donnie, then she remembered a very zigzagged trip up the staircase.

  
  
Oh, nope it came rushing back to her. They were talking and laughing then she ruined it by letting herself slump over so she was being propped up on Leo’s side. That memory was burned into her skull, the way he tensed up and then said they should go back inside.

  
  
When they had gotten up, he went into the bathroom she slithered downstairs, they hadn't made eye contact today.

  
  
It was going to be a good day to be alone in the woods.

  
  
_Of course he doesn't want me leaning on him. I'm a big, long, gross, half snake monster. Freak._

  
  
She let her spoon slip out of her hand and make a small clink on the side of her bowl. Loud to her, probably unnoticeable to anyone else. Her eyes followed the fruit loops as the buoyed up and down on the now orange milk.

  
  
“It's just...I can't explain it to ya' Case'”

  
  
Words filtered in her tired ears. There were other people at the breakfast table. She was doing such a great job at tuning them the fuck out. Now they invaded her mind.

  
  
“I mean- What are you into guys?”

  
  
“No! I mean, I 'unno. Just not humans”

  
  
_Where was Leo to shut this down?_ She risked a glance to her left and he was there...elbows on the table  one hand holding a spoon the other holding up his head.

  
  
His eyes were closed.

  
  
His heart rate was low.

  
  
He was asleep.

  
  
_Fuck_ .

  
  
“Okay what about humans is so unattractive?”

  
  
Raph took a bite out of his toast. “They feel really soft” he started spraying crumbs out of his mouth. “It's hard ta explain, but yer skin is all...rubbery soft”

  
  
Mikey popped his head between Karai and Leo. She yawned and Mikey waved a hand in front of Leo.

  
  
Leo didn't move.

  
  
Mikey giggled and produced a marker from.... _where did he get that marker?_

  
  
“It you do that Michelangelo, none of us will shelter you from the consequences” Donnie warned.

  
  
Mikey rolled his eyes “What? Are you going to tell on me D?”

  
  
Donnie shrugged and went back to his cereal. Karai decided to watch Mikey carefully draw a very bushy mustache on Leo. Complete with a neat pointed goatee.

  
  
Mikey stepped back and admired his work. “What do you think Karai?”

  
  
“Add angry eyebrows” she said quietly, voice still rough from sleep.

  
  
Mikey obliged. “Hey, not bad, not bad. I think I've really captured his ace dents”

  
  
“Essence” Donnie corrected.

  
  
“That's what I said D, ace dents” Mikey capped his sharpie and smiled “So fireworks tonight, I'm so stoked!”

  
  
He yelled the last part causing Leo's eyes to open. Quickly he righted himself and pretending to have not been startled awake. He coughed picked up his spoon and seem unaware of the laughing that Casey, Raph and Mikey were suppressing.

  
  
Karai laughed once under her breath and turned back to her breakfast. She was too tired for this.

  
  
“Why are you two so tired?” Donnie asked squinting at them both.

  
  
Leo opened his mouth, but Karai was quick on her scales.

  
  
“Don't ask questions you know the answer to” she said, her voice gravelly which made it sound a little more arousing than she had planned for.

  
  
He choked a little on his cereal, April cautiously hit his shell with her hand. She looked at April and April whispered “Really?” barely hiding her excitement.

  
  
Karai rolled her eyes. “Fuck, of course not. It's called going for a walk that turned into hike. You're all perverts” She felt Leo relax next to her. It was adorable.

  
  
Well it would be it he didn't look like a green forty year old man with ink black facial hair.

  
  
When breakfast settled down and dishes were put in the sink Leo and Karai were left in the dining room alone. Not really sure what to do with themselves.

  
  
He picked at his wrappings. “Uh, thanks by the way”

  
  
She nodded, not sure what he was referencing. She made her way across the room to slither past him.

  
  
“Are you okay?” he called after her.

  
  
“What?” she turned around to look at him. Alright the facial hair is losing its comedic value. “Why wouldn't I be?”

  
  
“You seem mad at-”

  
  
“I'm not mad at you”

  
  
Leo paused.

  
  
“I get it, and uh, it's fine” she said evenly “it's fine, I get it”

  
  
It wasn't fine.

  
  
_It's called a crush because it hurts._

  
  
Leo frowned.  Then he straightened himself up, readjusted his crutch and took a deep breath. “Would you go mini golfing with me tonight?”

  
  
_What._

  
  
Karai opened her mouth then closed it.

  
  
“Well uh, Donnie, April and me” he back peddled quickly, the confidence draining “Uh Donnie suggested that we could do a double date- we could be back-up because uh-” Leo looked around the room for a distraction, or for time, or for a hero “-he was nervous, yes, nervous about having a date with April at the abandoned mini golf park without back-up and you know power in numbers an all and the others will be busy with the fireworks so-”

  
  
“Yes”

  
  
Leo stopped. “Rea- Okay” he nodded. “Uh...it's a...? You'll do back-up with me?”

  
  
“Yeah” she smiled and slithered away, stopping at the door frame “It's....a date” she said loud enough for him to hear.

  
  
_It's a date._

 

* * *

May 14th, 2014 | 4:00 pm

* * *

 _Oh fuck it's a date_ .

  
  
Karai found the nearest clock.

  
  
_It's 4pm, what the fuck?_

  
  
“Fuck” she hissed.

  
  
Time moves quickly when you don't want it to. After Leo asked her out...for back-up, she went into the woods, found a sturdy tree and fell asleep for a long time. Two hours of sleep hadn't been enough. The five hours she caught in the tree were nice. Until she remember what had happened last night, and then this morning.

  
  
Had she even played mini golf? Was it different than normal sized golf?

  
  
Someone tap her, she swung her hand but caught herself before it collided with April's nose.

  
  
Both girls yelped in surprise.

  
  
“Fuck, O'Neil. Warn a bitch will ya?” she groaned.

  
  
“S-sorry” April said quickly “Uh I was looking for you earlier, but you weren't around”

  
  
Karai softened her expression. She felt bad now, April was just trying to be friendly and she almost got a free nose job for it. “I was in the woods. Something weird happened this morning”

  
  
April smiled. “Oh, and did you say yes?”

  
  
“Really?” Karai asked. She slithered away as aggressively as she could. Her vision flooded red.

  
  
_I wish I could stomp._

  
  
“Karai wait!” April jogged after her on her normal human legs.

  
  
Karai whipped herself around quickly so she was face to face with April. “Whatever you are doing, just stay the fuck out of it, don't put him up to things” she hissed.

  
  
“I didn't put him up to anything, Karai!' April exclaimed. She seemed unphased by Karai's aggression.

  
  
The jury was still out on whether that was a win in their friendship or loss for her status as a kunoichi. Karai rolled her eyes. “Do me a favor and shove it up your ass”

  
  
She slithered away again. Her chest burned with embarrassment. Of course this morning hadn't been genuine. She left out the back, she could hear April marching behind her.

  
  
“Hey Karai what's shakin'” Mikey asked as she passed him.

  
  
“Not now Mikey” she hissed. Mikey looked away a little hurt by her retort.

  
  
“Now just wait a damn minute” April called behind her.

  
  
_Fuck off. Fuck off. Fuck off._

  
  
Karai turned around, but this time did not get back in April's face. “What?” she barked. “What more could you possibly have to say that could make this and fucking worse?”

  
  
April crossed her arms “If you would listen to what I am trying to tell you-”

  
  
Karai dug her nails into the meat of her palms.

  
  
“Everything okay over here?” Casey asked, Raph at his heel. Karai now noticed they were drawing a small crowd. For once Leo was nowhere in sight.

  
  
“Fuck off” Karai said.

  
  
“It's fine, guys” April said at the same time. She gave Karai a stern look. “It's a girl thing”

  
  
“This is not a” she threw up air quotes “girl thing, O'Niel, this is you sticking your nose in other people's business”

  
  
“Aren't you one to talk?” April remarked.

  
  
She didn't even feel herself slither closer to April until she was six inches away with only Raph's huge mutant forearm as a barrier.

  
  
“Easy you two” he said calmly.

  
  
In the corner of her eye she could see Donnie had already decided to take up a position a few feet behind April to her left. Posed to protect if necessary.

  
  
_They know I'm a monster._

  
  
April smirked. “You and I are going to have a chat” she reached out and grabbed Karai's wrist.

  
  
She pulled her away from the crowd of their friends, Karai let her.

  
  
“Wait, what’s goin' on?” Raph called.

  
  
April continued to lead Karai away by the wrist “It's a girl thing” she hollered.

  
  
Donnie began to follow them.

  
  
“It's a human girl thing” she amended. Donnie wavered but slowed his follow and then stopped.

  
  
There was a jab she could make there. Karai kept her mouth shut.

  
  
Once they were on the other side of the farmhouse April stopped. “What is wrong with you?” she snapped.

  
  
“What's wrong with me? It's not like I went and started meddling between you and Donnie because I thought I knew better than you two!”

  
  
“Karai, I swear to you, I didn't put Leo up to it, but I did know he was going to ask you” she spoke genuinely.

  
  
“How the fuck am I expected to believe that?” she asked. Still angry, still seething with resentment. Fuck Leo for even asking her this morning just because April pushed him. He was so reluctant to get it out in the first place.

  
  
April sighed “He asked me how Donnie had asked me out”

  
  
“Why didn't he just ask Donnie?” she questioned. Determined to poke holes in everything April was going to say to her.

  
  
“Because Donnie would tell him how he actually asked me out, and then Leo would ask you out using the same method and trust me. You. Do. Not. Want. To. Be. Asked. Out. By. A. Power. Point” with every pause April got a little closer.

  
  
“Okay-”

  
  
“So I lied, Karai. I lied, and it's really hard to lie to Leo, but I did it because I'm his friend, and sometimes friends need a little help asking out their crush” April had her hands on Karai's shoulders.

  
  
Karai pressed her lips together in thought.

  
  
“I swear I didn't put him up to anything, he was going to do it” April reassured “Just...you know Leo, he needed a plan. I just helped him make a plan. That's all I did”

  
  
“A plan. A plan to ask me to be back-up for a mini-golf date” she asked.

  
  
April nodded. “Perfect right?”

  
  
“How the fuck is that perfect, O'Neil?”

  
  
“Because you're a kunoichi, so he doesn't have to call it a date. You both know he was asking you out this morning” April smiled “Right?”

  
  
Karai rolled her eyes “Alright, fine. Apology accepted”

  
  
“I didn't apo-”

  
  
“We should get back, I have to get cleaned up for my date and show everyone I didn't eat you” Karai grumbled as she slithered towards the farm house.

  
  
“You are harder to figure out than the turtles” April commented on their way back.

  
  
Karai laughed bitterly “You have no idea”

  
  
“He is head over heels for you, you know that right?” April asked, they were still too far away for the others to overhear but they were watching them.

  
  
“I know he had a crush on me”

  
  
“Had? Oh no, he still does and it's bad Karai. I mean, I won't say too much because he probably told me this stuff in confidence but...” April smirked at her “...just, go easy on him”

  
  
Karai didn't respond. They made it back to the farmhouse, April explained that they settled their differences and even threw an arm over Karai's shoulder in solidarity. She wasn't listening to what was going on around her. She just kept replaying it in her mind.

  
  
_“He is head over heels for you”_

  
  
“Hey is this a trapdoor?” Mikey called from inside the house. It jutted her attention back to the present. She slithered into the farmhouse to find the whole gang except Leo standing around a spot in the hallway.

  
  
She looked up in time to see Leo coming down the stair one step at a time. He looked at her and gave her a dopey half awake smile. His face was clean of marker now. She gave a small smile back before raising herself up so she could see over Mikey's shoulder.

  
  
It was a trapdoor. Under the rug in the hall of all places.

  
  
“I didn't even know I had a second entrance to the basement” April remarked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter really got away for me. 
> 
> Originally it was going to be a little Spring Cleaning humor in front of the “Buried Secrets” plot. 
> 
> Then it spiraled and then I realized doing the “Buried Secrets” plot is going to take like 9k words alone (because there will be the issue of adding Karai into the plot and adding April's Weird Alien Compromised Mother) and I don’t want to split an episode plot into more than one chapter if I can help it. So this was a lot of filler and fluff....and a big fat excuse to tease leorai into this story (after over 40k words of just dangling it in the tags like the sadist I am) 
> 
> Next chapter will be up who knows when since it’s complicated and there is so much Apritello potential next chapter I’m drooling to really dig into those potential "hurt/comfort" deposits.
> 
> T-T


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikey was right.

* * *

 May 14th, 2014 | 4:30 pm

* * *

"The door in the hall next to the closet leads to the basement, and the basement seemed to only be the size of half the main level" Donnie placed his hands out in front of him visualizing the basement.

 

“What do you think is down there?” Casey asked.

 

Mikey rubbed his chin, then his pupils dilated in fear. He move so he was back away from the trapdoor. “...Clowns?” he squeaked.

 

“Wha? There ain't gonna be clowns in April basement” Raph snorted.

 

Donnie nodded "Most likely this trapdoor leads to the rest of the basement"

 

“So who's gonna go down there fir-”

 

“Not it!” rang through the house in unison. Everyone put there finger on the side of their nose.

 

Everyone except Leo who looked around startled. He had still been coming down the staircase. He sighed.

 

“Oh man” he moaned. “Alright”

 

Raph opened the trapdoor and Leo cautiously, one step at a time made it down the rickety wooden staircase. More annoyed than scared.

 

The secret second basement was just as boring as the real basement. Karai had seen much better basements. This basement had a dirt floor, cement brick walls. A slightly mold musk. This side lacked all the appliances such as the water heater, water softener and furnace. Subsequently all the little noises those appliances made were also not present.

 

_Fuck this would make an awesome place to nap._

 

She shook her head, _that's a snake thought. I am not napping down here._

 

_I am not napping down here when anyone is around._

 

“Well, this is lame” Casey karate chopped a cob web out of his face. "Is the other basement cooler or...?"

 

April looked around, venturing deeper into the basement. “Ah” she called. Suddenly four light bulbs turned on, all dangling on cords from the ceiling. “Found the light switch!”

 

“What's this” Donnie cautiously moved towards a very large object covered with a tarp.

 

“Careful, Donnie” Leo warned.

 

Donnie removed the tarp, it was cracked and thread bare in spots. It all but fell apart as he tossed it to the side on the room.

 

It was a Kraang ship, half buried into the dirt floor. The turtles unsheathed their weapons letting themselves fall into a serious demeanor.

 

“Th-that's not possible” April stuttered “How did they find us?”

 

Donnie dragged a careful finger across the ships surface “They didn't. This ship has been here” he rubbed the dust between his fingers “a decade at least”. Karai coiled herself a little further back, a sense of dread washed over her. Donnie brushed something that triggered the door to open. A hatch lifted up slowly revealing a ramp that went down.

 

“What do you thinks in there?”

 

“Only one way to find out” Leo answered Mikey's question as he limped towards Donnie. “Come on”

 

Everyone filed into the ship, because boarding an enemy ship is a great fucking idea. The inside wasn't dusty, but Karai only felt worse the deeper they went.

 

“Woah” Raph remarked. A few other gasps followed. “It's huge!”

 

“That's what sh- Ow!”

 

“Knock if off Casey! This is serious!” Raph barked.

 

“Seriously wicked more like it”

 

“This is not seriously wicked Casey!” April complained “There's a freaking Kraang ship under my house!”

 

“Any ideas, Donnie?” Leo asked. He was still taking a look around, completely silent on his toes if not for the crutch. “Anything in here?”

 

Donnie inspected a control panel “I'm not sure, but don't touch anything until I hack into the ship's mainframe”

 

“Wait don't you need your gear?” Mikey asked. He flopped himself down on a chair with wheels. “Oh no-” he yelped when two of the five wheels broke off, leaving only the vast display of buttons to break his fall.

 

No one had time to yell at him for it either before a pressurized hiss from a large cylinder in the center of the ship drew everyone back. Fog filled the room, the glass lifted.

 

A middle aged Caucasian woman with dark blonde hair stumbled out. Her hands were pressed on the side of her head. She stumbled over and Casey caught her from falling.

 

“Easy ma'am” Casey tried to say.

 

She grabbed him by the shoulders. Blinking her vision clear before looking around. Her mouth parting slightly as she stared at April.

 

“Mom?”

 

The woman'n eye widened “A-April?” she stuttered out.

 

April nodded quickly “Mom” she mouthed and ran up to her, wrapping her arms around her.

 

“April, this can't be possible, the last time I saw you...you were just three years old!” the woman exclaimed.

 

“It seems this was a vessel with a hyper sleep capsule” Donnie said lifting his head out from the tube. “That would ex-”

 

“Ahhhhh mutants!” Mrs. O’Neil cried quickly peeling away from April and stumbling her way to the other side of the ship. She hit the wall and slumped down to the ground against it.

 

“Wait she just now noticed this?”

 

Casey quickly went over to her “No, no, Mrs O’Neil uh these are good mutants”

 

Donnie smiled “Yea-”

 

“Except Donnie, he's kind of a jerk” Casey held out his hand to help Mrs. O'Niel up.

 

“-Hey!”

 

Mrs. O'Neil glanced around, still nervous, but took Casey hand none the less. “If you are sure”

 

“Positive” Casey beamed.

 

April approached her mom again, but gave her some space. “Mom, these are my friends. This is Casey. That's Raph, that's Donnie, that's Karai, that's Leo and Mikey is the one still on the floor next to the chair”

 

Mrs. O'Neil swallowed “My, you have a lot of friends April” she gave April a small smile “I can't wait to hear all about it”

 

* * *

 May 14th, 2014 | 6:00 pm

* * *

Leo made tea. Mrs. O'Neil wasn't sure what to make of that, but she took it graciously holding it away from herself.

 

“So where's Kirby?” she asked.

 

There had been a long convuluted tragic backstory before that question, Karai completely tuned it out. Everyone has a tragic back story. Or a vendetta, or a purpose. She was running out of room to store these bits of information. Didn't help that Mrs. O'Niel's story telling was kin to reading straight from a piece of paper.

 

“Kirby?” Casey asked pulling his own mug of tea away from his lips “Oh he got turned into a wicked Kraang headed mutant-”

 

Raph elbowed him “You had to pull a Mikey didn't ya?”

 

“Haha you pulled a Mikey!” Mikey laughed. Then he stopped laughing and creased his brow at the floor while touching his chin. “Wait-”

 

“He just kidding, Mrs. O'Niel” Leo said with an upbeat tone “Kirby's- uh...on uh- Safari! In Peurto Rico!” Leo looked away and up at the ceiling “And he won't be back for a while”

 

Leo took a long sip of tea while the room digested that sentence.

 

“I'm just so glad to have my April back” Mrs. O'Niel said turning back to her daughter.

 

“Mom, I still don't understand how this is possible” April was sitting across from her mother.

 

Mrs. O'Neil ran her finger around the edge of her teacup “Maybe we should talk about this in private”

 

“In private?” April asked.

 

Mrs. O'Neil shot a glance at Raph and Casey who were punching each other in the shoulder...and laughing. “Away from all these....mutants?”

 

April frowned “Is there something wrong, Mom?”

 

Karai and Leo shared a glance.

 

_Alright he knows what's up._

 

“April your mother has been frozen for thirteen years” Donnie came up behind the chair she was sitting “We should all let you catch up with her”

 

Mikey whispered something to Raph who just frowned. Karai missed it, but Raph didn't look happy.

 

April gave a small, uncertain smile.

 

“I'll be down in the ship, there might be something useful” he put his hand on her shoulder and she put her hand on top of his before he left.

 

Karai wasn't focusing on that though, she was focusing on the way April's mom looked horrified at the interaction.

 

_She must really hate mutants._

 

“Hey Leo, Raph” Mikey asked “Can I talk to you bros?”

 

Leo and Raph followed Mikey out of the living room but not before taking another glance at Mrs. O'Neil. The turtles were just as curious about her as she was afraid of them.

 

Karai set her tea down and left for the porch. It was dark out and she had nowhere else to go. That twisted feeling in her stomach hadn't left.

 

“So word on the street is you are trying to get down with Leo” Casey slammed into the railing on the porch. If it was for dramatic effect, it failed.

 

Karai huffed “Jones, there isn't a street in sight of here”

 

“Do you want my help or not?” Casey retorted “Because you need my help, Hisster”

 

Karai stared out into the woods “Did you just fucking call me Hisster?” she asked dryly.

 

She paused “Also what help? What help could Casey Jones possible have for me? Going to give me your class notes on turtle dicks? You have a diagram for show and tell?”

 

Casey straightened up and turned to leave “Fine, don't take my help” he aimed to walk back into the farmhouse. He walked slowly on purpose.

 

_Eh, fuck it._

 

“Casey wait” she called with as much emotion as she could “Please give me your help”. She resisted putting “help” in air quotes.

 

Sometimes it's the small victories in life.

 

Casey walked back smugly. “That's the spirit, now first things first” he leaned on the railing “where you at?”

 

“On the porch” she sighed.

 

Casey nodded thoughtfully “Sarcasm” he tisked “Dammit, Leo. I told him to use protection”

 

Karai laughed a little at that. She was determined to not like Casey after the cloaca drama, didn't mean he wasn't good for a few one liners. “Yeah, too late. Only took a few encounters with him”

 

“Seriously though, help me, help you. Where you two at?”

 

Karai thought for a moment “Why do you want to help me? What's your goal here?”

 

“Are you suggesting I have ulterior motives?”

 

“Big word Jones, sure you know how to use it?”

 

“And Leo's sass, you are a lost cause”

 

Karai rolled her eyes. “Be honest with me, and I might be honest with you”

 

“Fine” Casey huffed “I was thinking that if I get you and Leo together, everyone will focus on you two. Then I will be back in April's good graces and she'll fall in love with me over Donnie?”

 

“Wow”

 

“Great plan right?”

 

“Of course, I can't see any flaw in that at all” she deadpanned.

 

Casey rubbed his hands together “Alright, so spill it”

 

“There's nothing to spill Jones” Karai replied. “Your plan may be doomed from the start”

 

“Casey Jones never gives up!” Casey declared pounding his fist on the railing. “You are going to ask Leo out, tonight”

 

Karai stared at Casey's shit eating grin “I am?” she asked.

 

“Yep” Casey put his arm around her shoulders “But don't worry, Casey will help you through it”

 

“Take your arm off me”

 

Casey quickly retracted his arm “First things first, Leo is never going to make the first move”

 

“He asked me to be back-up during April and Donnies date tonight” she pointed out.

 

Casey raised his eyebrows “What date, because all I see is you out here moping”

 

“I am not moping” Karai snapped.

 

“That's not a date, Karai, that's a cop out. You need to man up and ask him out”

 

“You are horrible at giving advice” she scowled.

 

“Just hear me out” Casey continued. Karai reasoned he'd continue even if she slithered away “You're gonna go up to him and ask him on a date tonight to Deer Rock Peak”.

 

“Deer Rock Peak?”

 

Casey nodded “There's a trail, it's a thirty minute hike, but there's a pavilion, screened in”

 

“How romantic”

 

“Exa- Oh you're being sarcastic. Look it could be!” he elbowed her arm playfully “There's an old musty sofa. A bunch of warm beer and a radio!”

 

“Was any of that suppose to blow me away?” Karai was amused now at least. It didn't sound great, but it wasn't bad. “How do you know about this?”

 

“Duh, Raph and I have been fixing it up! It's our hangout!”

 

Karai pressed her lips together “Alright”

 

“Alright?” Casey asked.

 

Karai nodded “I'll do it, I'll ask him out”

 

Casey jumped up and down. “Yes!” he practically yelled.

 

Karai squinted.

 

“I mean” he stopped celebrating and coughed “I'm just so happy that you two will be expressing your love for each other?”

 

“Uh huh”

 

* * *

 May 14th, 2014 | 6:30 pm

* * *

Karai managed to slither away from Casey once Raph found them on the porch. Raph looked upset and Casey offered to spar with him. Which means ranting with him while Raph punches something.

 

Mikey was, alright Karai wasn't sure what Mikey was doing with his pet ice cream cat but it involved cool whip. She elected to leave him be for her own sanity.

 

Part of the reason she left the porch was it was very humid. The air was heavy, and her gut was still withering around itself with anxiety. She planted herself in the living room for a moment. It was the same feeling she had in New York with her father in the sewers before he attacked her. She wanted to run.

 

Someone had her in the cross hairs and she didn't know where the shot would come from.

 

It was killing her.

 

April was talking to her mom outside, they were sitting on a bench and laughing.

 

But something felt wrong.

 

The porch door slammed, but if felt far away.

 

She breathed in but her lungs didn't work. She breathed in faster and the air was empty of oxygen.

 

There was yelling outside. Karai heard April screaming but gravity sucked her into the floor.

 

Her lungs weren't working, her hands were shaking.

 

She was in the downstairs bathroom. The door was locked she gripped the sink and stared at the thing in the mirror.

 

Sweat on her brow, arms trembling her fingers danced around the faucet until she found the rubber stopper. Karai plugged the sink. Cold water splashed into the basin below her. The smell of hard water floated up and smacked her in the face.

 

There was yelling in the hallway.

 

Her stomach lived in her throat.

 

The water was off. The pool of clear cold water rocked slightly.

 

There was yelling in the hallway.

 

She plunged her head into the sink. Her eyes ached as the cold seeped through her eye lids. She felt icicles stab her ear drums.

 

There was yelling in the hallway.

 

* * *

 May 14th, 2014 | 7:30 pm

* * *

“You attacked April's MOTHER!?” Donnie screamed.

 

Karai felt slightly sympathetic, but only slightly.

 

Mikey looked to Leo who shook his head disapprovingly.

 

“I'm telling you guys something is not right with her!”

 

“No Mikey, the only thing not right here is that you LITERALLY ATTACKED APRIL'S MOTHER” Donnie hollered.

 

Mikey stood up from his interrogation chair “Would you all listen to me, she's evil!” he looked to Leo again “Leo you saw it” he turned to Raph “You did too...and Donnie I know you know she almost puked when she saw you touch Ap-”

 

“ENOUGH”

 

Leo pinched his brow “Yes, we are aware that April's mother is more than a little troubled by our appearance”

 

“More than a little, Leo?” Mikey shot back “she didn't even touch the tea you made her because you're a mutant”

 

“Not e'ryone is gonna suddenly like mutants over night, Mikey”

 

Leo nodded “Raph's right, April's mom has been awake what? three maybe four hours?”

 

“She's evil”

 

Donnie crouched down in front of Mikey “If you attack her again, I'll show you evil”

 

The interrogation devolved into what threats were appropriate among brothers. Karai busied herself looking outside one of the barn windows that faced the farmhouse. April and her mom were sitting on the porch, April's mom was using a lot of tissues while sobbing.

 

Here in the barn despite the yelling, Karai felt better. The farmhouse made her physically sick. It had to be the Kraang ship.

 

It had to be.

 

The barn door whipped open and Karai turned to see Mikey run out. His brothers walked after him but ultimately looked like they were going to let him go.

 

“Where do you think he's running off to?” Leo asked. “If he messes this up for April anymore than he already has-”

 

Raph put a comforting hand on Leo's shell “We set 'im straight 'earless”

 

Leo's mouth twisted.

 

Karai slither up next to Raph who looked at Casey quickly. She hadn't realiazed Casey was even in the barn.

 

Casey looked back at Raph. They exchanged excited glances. Before quickly returning to a more stoic resolve.

 

_Uh huh._

 

“'ey Donnie, Shouldn't ya maybe see how Ape is?” Raph asked suddenly.

 

Casey nodded “Yeah, D. I bet April really needs her boyfriend right now”

 

Donnie who was just coming out of the barn with his laptop in hand paid no attention to Raph or Casey. “I am running more tests on that tube Mrs. O'Neil was in” he said to his laptop.

 

“So you are going over to talk to April?” Casey asked.

 

Donnie walked by tapping his keyboard “No, April needs to talk with her mother” he glanced up to where April and her mother were sitting, both lost in their conversation with each other. “I'll be working on the ship's hard drive if anyone needs me”

 

“Well that settle it” Raph said “Donnie needs... he needs our help with the ship so Case' an I will go help him”

 

“Yeah” Casey agreed “Definitely needs just are help but you two stay out here”

 

Raph coughed.

 

“Or don't, just-”

 

Raph yanked Casey away and they both walked towards the farmhouse. Casey was taking not so subtle glances back at them.

 

Karai turned her gaze to Leo, who also looked slightly taken by his brother's behavior.

 

When they were far enough away Leo cleared his throat. “Karai would you go-”

 

“-on a date with me to Deer Rock Peak. There's a pavillion with warm beer, a radio, and a couch”

 

“Screened in?” Leo deadpanned.

 

“You bet”

 

Leo nodded slowly. “Casey?”

 

“Yep. Raph?”

 

“Correct”

 

“They are most definitely watching us right now” Karai put her hair behind her ear, still damp from splashing cold water on her face.

 

Leo rubbed his neck, he turned so anyone in the farmhouse wouldn't be able to see his face. He grinned. “Want to mess with them?”

 

Karai giggled playfully moving her whole upper body and batted her hand with every ounces of feminity she still had. “Fuck yeah I do”. She could see from the corner of her eye, Raph and Casey were staring out the window of the farmhouse eating this up. “I have an idea”

 

“You lead”

 

She swayed back and forth, the closest things she'd have to playing with her feet. Barely moving her lips she started her plan. “Come closer, and grab my hands”

 

Leo did, he looked her in the eye, he was about three inches taller. His fingers wrapped around her hands and he let them hang between them, forming two bridges. “Now what” he muttered.

 

“Say anything, but make it look like you are spilling your heart out” she muttered back.

 

If only there was a way to hear what Raph and Casey were saying right now.

 

Leo used his good leg to play with dirt before he stepped a little closer. He left a little space now. “Karai” he said sofly, but he moved his mouth clearly, so their audience could see him speaking. “I could make this easy for you” he paused. It was dramatic. “But I have to get this off my chest”. He rubbed his thumbs over her thumbs.

 

_Wait-_

 

He looked into her eyes again. Her stomach dropped into her tail. She looked right back into them. “Yesterday, Mikey found an old magazine” he bit his lip “in this magazine there was a quiz, and this is really hard to tell you so please don't laugh” he kept his face genuine and filled with emotion.

 

“I won't” she said earnestly.

 

“It was a quiz to determine what Golden Girl a person is” Leo looked down for a second and then back up. “You can't tell anyone, but Mikey and I are still trying to figure out which of the golden girls we all are” he said, with the deepest voice she had ever heard from him.

 

Karai made an indignant noise in her throat but kept her cool. Leo's lips almost wavered into a smile but he caught himself. They took a pause to cool off.

 

Raph and Casey were probably imagining an intense moment.

 

“Mikey got Rose, of course” Leo nodded understandingly “That, I can agree with”.

 

“Did you actually watch the Golden Girls?” Karai asked, trying to recall the show.

 

Leo smiled back. “All the time, our Da- Sensei loved the show”. He paused “We can't make up our minds on where to place the rest of us”

 

Karai clenched her jaw breaking eye contact, trying not to laugh.

 

“They are on the porch now” he said, full of emotion. Passion in every word.

 

Karai looked back at him, paused for a moment. She closed the gap between them, she grabbed the top his plastron and pulled him closer. “You're definitely Dorthy” she whispered.

 

Leo's eyes widened. “I am not Dorthy, Dorthy is the bossy one who never has any fun and gets annoyed by...the...other....” He drew his mouth into a tight line. “Alright, yeah I'm Dorthy”

 

“They're punching each other's shoulders” Karai added.

 

“Of course they are” Leo rolled his eyes “So what's your idea?”

 

Karai grinned “Remember The Creep?”

 

Leo's face fell “If we do that they'll make joke about me riding you”

 

Karai twirled her hair playfully stealing another glance at their audience. _What conversation do those two think we are having right now?_ “Sacrifices have to be made Leo, it's are best bet at charging them and you know it”

 

Leo thought on it.

 

“Come on Dorthy, let's give Sofia a beat down” Karai jabbed.

 

Leo bit back a snort “Sofia?”

 

“He's short and mad, come on that one is easy”

 

Leo shook his head. “Fine”

 

“Alright” Karai smiled. “On three”

 

Leo nodded.

 

“One”

 

“Two”

 

“Three”

 

She angled her self towards the farmhouse and in front of Leo as he threw his crutches behind him. Quicker than last time he was able to get his legs around her. As soon as she felt both his feet were off the ground she made a direct zigzag for Raph and Casey. His hand on her shoulders, her hands under his knees.

 

This was either terrifying or hilarious.

 

They didn't have time to react. Karai abruptly stopped at the railing and lifted herself up higher so Leo could jump off her back leap frog style. He landed on Raph sending them both down in a crash as Karai grabbed the front of Casey's hoodie and pulled him over the railing on to the lawn.

 

In a matter of second both of them were pinned. Raph and Leo still struggled, but were laughing. She sat in a coil on Casey, who was pulling out grass in attempt to claw himself from under her.

 

“Raph” he gasped “Help”

 

“Casey, what happened to helping me?” Karai asked, faking a hurt expression.

 

“Did ya two really-” Raph struggled to get unpinned from Leo “-just have a-” He finally separated himself from Leo “-fake conversation ta attack us!?”

 

“Yep” Leo replied smugly.

 

Casey continued to claw at the grass. Karai continued to watch in satisfaction.

 

“So, what was the bet this time?” Leo asked, slightly out of breath.

 

Raph grumbled. “Loser had to drink Mikey's Homemade Hot Sauce”

 

“Karai please” Casey gasped. She got off him and he took dramatic inhales.

 

“So it was never about getting in April's good graces?” Karai asked.

 

Casey shook his head.

 

“Wait that wasn't part of the deal!” Raph shouted over the railing at Casey. “The bet was who could get Leo to ask her out first”

 

“Yeah and if Karai asked him out first, you'd lose!” Casey cackled madly.

 

Raph threw his arms up in the air “No ya moron, if she asked him out first we'd both lose”

 

Casey stopped laughing.

 

“Yeah, ya pulled another Mikey-”

 

The porch door opened. Mrs. O'Niel came onto the porch and stopped.

 

“Hi, Mrs. O'Niel” Leo greeted from where he was sitting on the ground.

 

The woman pressed her back against the wall and slid sideways towards the steps. “Jus-just going for a walk” she stammered.

 

“Okay” Raph said slowly.

 

Mrs. O'Niel went down the stairs awkwardly and quickly walked away towards the woods. She had a sweat shirt with her, cradled in her arms.

 

“You want me to tell April where you are going?” Casey called after her.

 

The woman did not respond and continued walking.

 

Raph got up and helped Leo up, his crutches were still by the barn. Casey followed them inside.

 

Karai linger on the porch and watched the woman disappear into the tree line. It was a really quiet evening. No wind, no animals, no insects. It was dead silent. She slithered into the farm house.

 

Leo sat on the couch next to Raph, Casey was crouched down in front of the TV and pulled out a video game.

 

“Man we need some better games” he lamented “Only two players is getting rough”

 

“Don't worry Leo usually loses” Raph teased.

 

“It's not my fault, I haven't played video games since I was eight!”

 

“You playing Karai?” Casey asked.

 

She shook her head distracted “Video games are lame I got, like fucking snake shit to do” she waved them off and left the room not bothering to address the confused expression.

 

Karai slithered into the newly discovered basement and waited for the horrific soul crushing dread to hit her.

 

It didn't.

 

The basement hadn't changed. There were a few battery powered lanterns on various tables. Cautiously she scooted her way to the ship. She shuddered as her scales glided over the cold metal floor but continued on, the first time down here she hadn't had a very good look at the ship. April's mother had been her main concern.

 

Donnie had his back to her, he was working on an exposed circuit. She slithered up behind him.

 

“What's tha-”

 

“HOLY CHALUPA!” Donnie stammered dropping whatever tool he was holding onto the circuit with a clang. “Karai!”

 

She put her hands up in mock surrender, laughing a little. Donnie glared for a moment before picking up his tool and inspecting it for damage.

 

“What do you want?” he asked placing the tool down in a box.

 

Karai shrugged “Just wanted to look around” she did just that as she responded. It was a big ship. High ceiling, easily the same floor space as a living room.

 

Donnie furrowed his brow “Leo didn't send you down here did he?”

 

“Do you think Leo can send me anywhere?” Karai's response was relaxed as she craned her head to see more of the ceiling. “I'm just looking around, this is creepy”

 

“Well if you are going to be here maybe you can help” Donnie added irritably.

 

Karai slithered away from him to look at the various panels and screens. “Not really my expertise, Donatello”

 

“I meant-” he turned and grabbed something “-can you attach these leads to the top of that capsule?”

 

“Ever hear of a ladder?”

 

“If you are observant you'll notice the corridor leading in here is winding” he handed her the leads. “Can't get a ladder down here”

 

Karai took the leads and lifted herself up high. The top of the capsule at least had holes that matched the leads Donnie handed her, she plugged both leads in without comment.

 

“Now I can hopefully figure out what that capsule is” Donnie said, to himself, completely ignoring Karai.

 

She responded anyways “Why are you so obsessed with the capsule again?”

 

“Because this is huge break through!” Donnie exclaimed “April's mother isn't a day older than when she was last seen. She woke up and within the hour was up and walking. No lasting side effects! No cellular damage!”

 

Karai drew her mouth into a tight line. That had escaped her notice, things so obvious usually did not. “That's not possible” she stated.

 

Donnie's face dropped “Thank you, I know”

 

“Is that why you're all bitchy? You haven't discovered how to freeze people?”

 

Donnie turned back to his laptop and tapped away at the keys fluidly “You don't understand, it's literally impossible to freeze humans. Those sci-fi movies where a person lives in an iceberg for three thousand years an appears in the future. They all glance over the simple fact that the fluid in cells will expand when frozen, tearing the cell body apart”

 

Karai looked at the capsule.

 

“And I know what you are thinking” Donnie rounded on her “That there are some species of frogs and other amphibians and reptiles that can survive being frozen completely and thaw out alive and well-

 

“-actually I was not thinking-”

 

“-but not humans. Not warm blooded mammals. There's no way she could have thawed out and been anything but dead”

 

Karai twisted her lips “But she's alive”

 

“So you see my dilemma?” Donnie asked. “Either April's mother was frozen using an advanced alien technique or....”

 

“Or?”

 

Donnie shrugged “I don't know. But everyone wants answers, and I have none-”

 

“Hello D” Mikey said causing them to turn and face him “I just wanted to come an apologize for attacking Mom”

 

“You shouldn't be apologizing to me, Mikey, you should be apologizing to April and her mother” Donnie said tightly.

 

Mikey smiled “Don't worry D, I had a talk with Mom and she forgave me”

 

Donnie's jaw dropped “What?”

 

“She was walking in the woods and I joined her. Mom is really nice and only wants what's best for April” Mikey's smile didn't waver a bit.

 

Donnie looked at Karai “Last I saw her she was sobbing on April...”

 

“I did see her go into the woods alone before I came down here” Karai admitted. But something felt off. Especially how he just...appeared in the ship without any noise. That anxiety from before welled up.

 

April came into the ship and stopped short when she saw Mikey. “You!” she stomped over to him. “I can't believe you!”

 

“Hello April” Mikey said tone unwavering.

 

April looked disgusted by Mikey's lack of reaction before turning to Donnie and Karai “Have either of you seen my mom, she went on a walk after I calmed her down” she shot a glare over her shoulder at Mikey “and she still isn't back”

 

“I will help you look for her April, I am sure she is around” Mikey smiled.

 

Karai swallowed the lump in her throat.

 

“No, thanks” April snapped.

 

“I've been down here for a while, April, and Karai only saw her go into the woods” Donnie offered shooting uneasy glances at his younger brother.

 

April sighed. “Thanks, Donnie. For everything. I'm going to go see if she came back yet”

 

April left and Karai followed her feeling no guilt about leaving Donnie alone with Mikey. “Hey what's going on?” she asked the irritated red head.

 

“Oh besides my mom being attacked by the people I explicitly told her would not do that?” April quipped. “Did you see that back there? The nerve of him! Giving me a smug smile knowing he scared her off”

 

Karai pushed down her own anxiety “That was weird...” she trailed off.

 

“He is usually such a sweetheart” April seethed.

 

At the top of the staircase they split ways, April went outside and Karai went back into the living room to see Leo pouting while Casey and Raph were intently mashing their controllers.

 

“Lost already?” she asked Leo.

 

“Yep” Casey and Raph replied for him which only intensified the sulk.

 

“Hey how did you get your crutches back?” she asked noticing them leaning on the back of the armchair.

 

“Mikey brought them in for me” Leo fixed the loose ends of his wrapping before sitting up straighter “Then he said he wanted to speak to Donnie”

 

“Playin' with fire if ya ask me” Raph added eyes glued to the screen.

 

Leo nodded “Well he seemed pretty happy”

 

Casey groaned as Raph cheered. “Karai, want to play the winner?” He snatched Casey's controller away and held it out to her shaking it slightly “Come on”

 

She took it. “Fine”

 

“That's the losing spirit” Raph goaded.

 

Karai slithered to the side of the couch and put herself in a neat coil. “You're going the fuck down”

 

“Put yer money where yer mouth is”

 

Leo got up looking concerned “I'm going to make sure Donnie didn't kill Mikey” he swung past them on his crutches as Raph hit start.

 

* * *

 May 14th, 2014 | 8:30 pm

* * *

Karai randomly hit buttons, not really knowing how to play video games. Of course she would never tell Raph that. They were on their third round. Karai won the first one (“beginners luck” Raph had claimed) Raph won the second one. This was the tie breaker, so of course April came in at that moment to ask Casey to come help her find her mom.

 

Casey went with her.

 

Karai won the third round so now it was the best three out of five. With Casey's commentary gone Raph and her sat in silence, only the sound of clicking plastic between them.

 

Until Leo hollered and they dropped their controllers both spouting out a variation of “What was that?”

 

Raph got down the stairs first, Leo was on the ground holding his left knee sucking air through his teeth, the second step up was broken. Raph crouched down next to Leo “Bro what happened”

 

Leo looked up at Raph. He looked scared, he grabbed Raph's arm. “Mikey was right” he said frantically “There's something wrong with April's mother”

 

Karai pulled a small four inch blade from her sleeve. Raph grabbed his sais and stood at the ready facing the entrance of the Kraang ship “Where is she?”

 

She slithered up next to Raph, ready to give him back-up if needed. Her heart was pounding. Raph's anger was radiating off him while gripping his sais. “Leo, where is she?” he asked again still looking at the ship.

 

“Right here” Leo said calmly.

 

Raph and her spun around to see Leo standing between them and the only exit. Tentacles had grown out of his back and arms. His eyes were black orbs.

 

“What did you do to my brothers!” Raph screamed before charging at Leo.

 

Leo caught Raph's fist with his new tentacle appendage and held him while Raph's other hand tried to land a hit on him, Karai shot in and sunk her blade into the tentacle. Raph was released and Leo retreated grasping the wound.

 

“You're making Mother very angry” he snarled.

 

“Yeah that's the creepiest shit I've eva heard” Raph yelled. “What now?”

 

“Don't let him escape” Karai ordered. They both charged Leo, but much like The Creep, Leo was barely effected by physical hits. Karai landed a punch unfortunately it was on his plastron. She felt her joints crack and she retreated grasping her now dislocated fingers.

 

Raph was still struggling with him “He's really freakin' strong” he yelled to her. Leo was on top of him, multiple tentacles wrapping around Raph.

 

Karai shot over to the pair and slammed her elbow down on the back of Leo's head, his tentacles loosened long enough for Raph to squirm free, Leo smacked Karai on the side of the head before she could get out of his reach. Vision blurred she fell into the cement wall and slid down it. Raph was across the room, one of Leo's tentacles must have slammed him over there.

 

“Go warn April and Casey!” she shouted. Leo stopped looking at her and turned to see Raph visibly hesitating between leaving Karai and warning the other. He started to walk towards Raph and Karai jumped on Leo's back pinning him to the ground “Go! I got this!” she yelled again and this time Raph didn't hesitate. Leo tentacles tightened around her pinning her to his back.

 

Then Leo stilled below her “Thanks for jumping right into our mouth” he said as the back of his shell cracked open from top to bottom revealing a slit of razor sharp teeth.

 

She didn't have time to think.

 

* * *

 UNKNOWN

* * *

If this was death, she was okay with it.

 

She had no body.

 

She was floating.

 

She could see everything where there wasn't anything to see.

 

If this was death it wasn't peaceful, it was full of dread and anxiety. She had to do something but the thought drained out of her mind before she could decide if it was water or not.

 

Questions had no answers because every time she thought of something she forgot it. But it left a sour taste on her tongue, proof she had asked and proof she forgot.

 

* * *

 UNKNOWN

* * *

She coughed.

 

Violently and with panic because a moment ago Leo ate her and now she was in the barn, covered in something. She tried to wipe it off but her hand slipped over it instead.

 

Her hand, she grabbed it and winced the memory of punching Leo so hard she dislocated her own fingers returned. She looked around the barn and found him, he was sitting up with the help of Casey. They were talking but she couldn't hear the words over the ringing in her ears.

 

“April killed her” Casey's lips spelled.

 

_Killed who?_

 

They turned to look at her. Maybe she asked that out loud.

 

A loud pop went off behind her eyeballs and the pressure in her ears was gone only to be replaced with complete chaos.

 

Now that she could hear, Mikey was puking off to the side of the barn. Raph was laying on his back, his eye patch in his hand. He seemed unconcerned about Mikey's growing puddle of vomit getting closer to him. Leo was being propped up by Casey.

 

“It wasn't your mother, I have unequivocal proof that this was a Kraang experiment” Donnie said to April.

 

While all of them were absolutely coated in blood and guts and intestines, April was clean.

 

“Before, well...” he trailed off because they knew the story “...I was running tests and trying to figure out how a human could survive being is stasis for 13 years”

 

April stared past him.

 

The walls were dripping with blood, nothing inside the barn was clean.

 

Except April.

 

“I found out that it doesn't matter because what we found this afternoon wasn't human to begin with and it wasn't your mother” his voice was calm and steady. He wasn't trying to comfort April he was giving her facts.

 

April looked at Donnie now and swallowed. “She knew everything about me” she croaked, tears welled in her eyes.

 

“It knew everything about you” Donnie corrected “Because it's an alien mutation created to capture you and they used the real Mrs. O'Niel to create it”

 

She stayed silent, resting in that information. She looked back to the same spot as before, a ghost only she could see.

 

“The experiment was also not to their liking according to records” Donnie continued to tell her without prompting. Still standing in front of her and slowly shifting himself so he was in the way of whatever April had been staring at. “The Kraang froze it because they could not kill it, and they abandoned the ship because they did not want to bring it back to their home planet”

 

April had tears streaming down her face, she nodded and took a shaky breath. “C-can I see?”

 

“Of course, however my laptop was smashed to pieces after I found out this information” Donnie frowned “but I am sure I can use some tech from the ship itself to fix it”

 

The red head seemed to accept that and let Donnie lead her out of the barn, arm around her shoulders as they walked. Both looking a tad shaky.

 

April killed a creature that looked like her mother and Donnie didn't tell her it would be okay. He only told her things he knew, he only gave her answers and it was more effective than anything Karai would have tried. Everyone saw that because they let Donnie talk and they let her be lead away from the nightmare in the barn towards her greatest comfort. Her only light at the end of the tunnel: Facts.

 

* * *

 May 15th, 2014 | 12:30 am

* * *

Her right hand was a goddamn mess. There were two showers in the Farm House but only one of them had a tub. That was the one upstairs. The first thing she had done (and it was such a good idea everyone else followed suit) was hosed off outside. Was it nearing midnight? Yes. Was being soaked from head to tip of tail in cold water horrible? Yes.

 

However Leo, Raph and Mikey seemed almost happy getting to hose off. She didn't understand and she didn't have the energy in her to try. She needed to sleep for two days and eat for three. Instead she was in the bath tub clutching her right hand to her chest and letting her scales soak in the hot water. The events of the day replaying in her mind like a broken record.

 

She remembered her mutation. It might have something to do with being sucked into another mutant, or maybe she remembered one day and until now those memories laid untapped in her mind.

 

But now she stirred them up over and over until they overwhelmed her. She didn't remember her mutation, she didn't remember what lead up to it either. Well, she hadn't. Now she did.

 

It wasn't the mutation itself. Falling into the vat of mutagen, feeling her legs melt together and stretch into what she had now. That wasn't the part that hurt her ….now.

 

Almost killing her real father shortly after being mutated? That hurt, but she had known that. It was the reason she avoided the turtles after becoming the monster that she was.

 

A broken record played in her head. She tried to sneak out to kill The Shredder. As if she could do it by herself. The power her anger had over her then. Then Leo, doing what she should of known he would do, tried to intercept her. Except he didn't stop her, he wanted to help her take The Shredder down.

 

What did she do? She played along, she used his crush on her against him and she almost kissed him. He closed his eyes, he believed her lie and she rewarded him with sleeping powder to the face. She regretted throwing the powder in his face immediately after she did it. She regretted it when The Shredder easily captured her again and used her as bait. The guilt while hanging in that cage knowing the turtles were walking into a trap, and it was her fault. It was like a fresh wound all over again.

 

So in the privacy of the upstairs bath tub she silently cried.

 

When she came out of the bathroom, and entered the bedroom she shared with Leo, he was tying on a new mask.

 

Knowing it was her entering he began to speak “Donnie is taking a shower downstairs, April is asleep. She did something, in the barn, she told Donnie about it”

 

Karai processed that, she hadn't asked, no one had asked the question between April's mother being dead and the inside of the barn being painted red.

 

The answer seemed obvious, to her at least.

 

She continued to massage her right hand “Well, that's good” she said quietly.

 

“Is your hand okay?” Leo asked glancing down from her face to where she was still clutching it.

 

“I just need to pop my fingers back into joint” she reassured him. “Why are you tying your mask on?” she changed the subject.

 

Leo stopped tying his mask and set it on the night stand before holding out his hand to her, palm up. She looked at it, keeping her face blank. “Give me your hand” he beckoned, as if Karai was a dog who had something in her mouth that she wasn't suppose to.

 

A few uneasy moments passed before she slithered a little closer and let him have her hand. “I can take care of it myself” she added casually “it's not the first time I've dislocated a few fingers”.

 

Leo gave her _that_ look, the _that makes it so much better Karai_ look. “What did you do? Did you get hurt fighting Mrs. O-, the alien?”

 

“Yeah”

 

“And you didn't tell anyone until now?” Leo asked again. “Here, I can pop these back in place for you” as he said those words she braced herself for it but nothing happened. He looked at her and a few moments passed again before he tilted his head slightly.

 

 _Oh_. “Go ahead” she answered.

 

It was over quickly, she quickly sucked air through her teeth but it was faster than what she could have done.

 

“Thanks” she said examining her now correctly jointed fingers “You're really good at that”

 

Leo rolled his eyes “You can thank Casey for giving me a lot of practice, the amount of times he has punched Raph and hit his in the shell by accident”

 

“I thought Donnie was the family doctor” Karai pointed out.

 

“Donnie has limited patience for Casey, so I would do it for him” Leo put his legs on the bed one at a time. “He sometimes comes down the sewer during the day to have me fix small injuries like that”

 

There was a story there Karai decided “So Casey-” she stopped.

 

“What about him?” Leo responded laying his head back.

 

 _Probably has an abusive home life that I want to know every detail of for my own personal gain_. “He and Raph were trying to get us to go to that pavilion”

 

Leo opened his eyes and looked at her “Yeah, sorry about them-”

 

“I think we should go ...check it out”

 

They stared at each other. Karai swallowed.

 

“I'm going to get some ice” she slithered out of the room “for my hand” she called back leaving Leo on the bed silent.

 

She slithered down the stairs and almost ran into Donnie. “Oh sorry, Karai” Donnie said quickly stepping to the side. He moved fast for someone who looked drained.

 

As he walked past her Karai turned around “Is April okay?”

 

Donnie stopped but didn't turn around “I don't know” he continued walking towards the stairs. Karai remembered her mission to get ice, and headed for the kitchen.

 

The freezer had an ice maker, she opened the door, patted Ice Cream Kitty on her sticky head and grabbed a few ice cubes to place in a terrycloth dish rag before holding it on her hand.

 

She slithered around the small kitchen table. She needed more time to think. “Leo” she mumbled barely above a whisper “Would you go on a date with me”. The words felt awkward in her mouth. “Leo, go on a date with me to Deer Rock Peak” she tried again. It was better but not perfect. “Leo, I have a crush on you and know nothing about dating”. That was too blunt, so blunt it risked being off putting. She sighed and removed the ice from her hand and looked at the now red agitated skin. She headed towards the freezer to grab another ice cube when something else caught her eye.

 

The fridge was an eye sore of those novelty magnets people buy at tourist trap shops. Too many versions of “I love New York” with a few funny sayings like “Life's a Beach” or “World's Second Best Dad”. Karai read them all in her first week and then never paid attention to them, but now, on the freezer door there was a long letter held up by a magnetic bottle opener.

 

_Dear Friends and Family,_

 

_I don't think I should stay here with people who do not trust me, and only think I cry wolf, when I am actually trying to save them from alien monsters_

 

Karai stopped reading and threw her ice pack into the sink before zipping out the back door of the farm house. Her eyes adjusted to the dark and she scanned the treeline. She listened intently. Mikey was running away, the woods were huge, and dense. The sooner she picked up on any trail of his the more likely she would be able to catch up with him.

 

How old was the letter? When was the last time she saw him? She asked herself. Admittedly after leaving the barn and heading to the farmhouse she had only been really focused on herself. Mikey had been very quiet. Did anyone check on him?

 

She found a scent, but it was weak, at least from there she knew a direction. Without looking back at the farmhouse she slithered deep into the woods after Mikey.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter was delayed because I had writer's block. :(


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karai goes after Mikey only for them to discover a hostile tribe of mutant frogs who have a distrust for humans. (Warning: Minor Character Death, Attempted Sexual Assault)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I renamed this fanfic from the actually very common fanfiction title “Teenage Wasteland” to “The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together” (Seriously just search the old title on AO3 and see what I mean). Also I feel the new title better fits the tone of this disaster.

* * *

 May 15th, 2014 | 12:50 am

* * *

She had nothing of use on her. Having just taken a shower what she had changed into she was planning to sleep in, a thin cotton T-Shirt that was one size too big. There were no sleeves for blades, no pockets for smoke bombs or sleeping powder. Not that she had those things available to her at the farmhouse. All those thoughts swam around her head as she continued to lock onto Mikey's trail.

 

It was haphazard. With no prompting he would climb up a tree, leap off the tree onto a boulder or in a few infuriating cases used the branches like monkey bars. The only reason she figured that out was because it was so dry the bark would be rubbed off in “hand width” spots. She spent as much time looking at the forest floor as she did craning her neck towards the moonlit sky.

 

She had no time line either. All she could do is follow his breadcrumbs and hope she caught up before...she didn't know. It was vital she found Mikey and got him back o the farm house.

 

A distant yelp and Karai abandoned her trail knowing it was him.

 

Slithering almost right into her target giving him an even bigger scare Mikey yelped again. “Karai?” he squinted.

 

 _Right, no night vision._ “Yes, now come on” she reached out and grabbed his wrist pulling him forward.

 

Mikey dug his heels in. “No!” he took his wrist from her.

 

“No?” she asked threateningly.

 

Crossing his arms Mikey didn't answer.

 

“You can't just run away!” She realized her argument lacked anything behind it, after she decided that was her argument. _I'm suppose to be a kunoichi. I'm suppose to have the art of convincing people to do things they don't want to do down._

 

Mikey blinked. “I can't?” he asked after a beat.

 

“You can't” she reaffirmed slower.

 

“Huh” he said breezily “Then I wonder what you'd call this” Mikey swiftly back flipped away into a bush and Karai heard his feet hit the ground running.

 

 _Well fuck._ “Mikey!” she called slithering through the same bush.

 

“Sorry, not sorry!” he yelled behind him. He was jumping from branch to branch now, again with no destination.

 

Karai continued to follow him not looking at where she was going. She relied on her belly scales to help her map out the floor. “Mikey you need to come back to the farmhouse right now!”

 

“You're not my real dad!” Mikey shot back in jest.

 

Karai snarled under her breath, losing her temper. Mikey continued to swings from branch to branch, flip over boulders all while she slithered across the forest floor beneath him.

 

“I am your sister!” she yelled.

 

Mikey stopped in a tree and looked back at her.

 

“I'm older than Leo, I'm the eldest! Come back to the farm house before they wake up and find out you're gone!” Karai barked.

 

Mikey drew his lips into a small frown “Why does it matter? I'm better off gone”

 

Karai closed her mouth for a second. “Who told you that?”

 

“You did!” Mikey yelled. “And Leo, and Raph, and Casey, and Donnie and April!” He jumped down from the tree and landed with ease in front of her. “I knew April's mom wasn't right and we all almost died because no one took me seriously! Everyone just thinks I'm a moron!”

 

Karai shrunk back a little “We didn-”

 

“Didn't what? It doesn't matter. Leo is the leader, Raph is the muscle, Donnie is the brains and I'm the screw-up.” Mikey face was scrunched up and he took a step forward. “So go back to the farmhouse Karai because I'm not coming with you”.

 

“I'm not leaving you out here alone” Karai shot back. _This was suppose to be easy._ _Find Mikey and bring him back to the farmhouse before anything got out of hand._

 

Mikey's frown deepened. “Why? Why can't you leave me alone now that I want to be alone?”

 

“What if someone spots you” she rounded on him “What if a human spots you, or there are more hunters out in these woods like The Finger?”

 

“Oh so you didn't come out here to save me or apologize, you came out here because I'm too stupid to be on my own?” he fired back. She was so used to Mikey smiling and being the family air head to see such a hurt look on his face was foreign. “That's what I thought” Mikey answered her stunned silence. “Bye, Ka-”

 

“I will save you my lady!” a voice from above called before landing on Mikey and sending him to the ground.

 

“Get off me!” Mikey hollered, rolling out from under his offender.

 

The mutant frog stood up and became very still. He croaked.

 

“Dude! What's your problem!?” Mikey asked.

 

The mutant frog continued to stand still. He croaked again before his tongue slid out of his mouth and he licked the entirety of his face.

 

“Hello?” Mikey tried again.

 

Suddenly the frog turned revealing he had a mop handle with no mop head. He spun it around with poor form and advanced on Mikey. With ease Mikey stepped to the side moments before impact and snatched the mop handle away from the frog sending him to the ground where he croaked on impact.

 

Karai was unsure of how to proceed, she didn't have a weapon and she herself wasn't being attacked. If anything the mutant was proving to be no threat.

 

The frog stood up again and stayed still.

 

“Look kid, you could of hurt someone!” Mikey gestured to the impromptu weapon.

 

He croaked and leaped at Mikey who again stepped to the side. The frog landed awkwardly against a tree trunk before righting himself and jumping on Mikey. They both fell on the ground in a mess of limbs before Mikey pinned the frog to the floor.

 

“Alright! Gosh! Get off of me! I give up!” the frog groaned.

 

Mikey released him and even helped him up. Karai continued to watch the interaction perplexed. “Sorry kid, you were out of control”.

 

The frog, or kid, croaked.

 

Mikey nodded as if that was a response. “Name's Michelangelo but you can call me Mikey”. He held out his fist to the frog.

 

The frog stared at the fist but didn't move. “I'm Napolean Bonafrog. You can call me Napoleon”

 

Mikey put down his fist. “Nice to meet you Napoleon!”

 

Napoleon licked his whole entire face again and Karai felt her eye twitch.

 

“This is my sister Karai, uh you can call her Karai” Mikey introduced her with a slightly harsher tone “But she was just leaving”

 

Napoleon croaked. “So are you like a ninja warrior or something?”

 

“Well...uh yeah!” Mikey exclaimed.

 

“Can you jump real high?” he asked.

 

“You mean like this?” Mikey asked as he propelled himself high into the air round house kicking a dead branch straight off a tree. He landed in front of Napoleon, held out his hand without looking and caught the branch.

 

“Gosh” Napoleon said with little enthusiasm.

 

“Mikey, we really should head back” Karai interrupted the interaction. “This is a bad idea we don't know where he is from or if he's dangerous-”

 

“You sound like Leo” Mikey waved her off. “So Napoleon, where you from?”

 

“I was exiled” Napoleon said casually.

 

“Who exiled you?” Karai asked.

 

Napoleon stared at her until and uncomfortable amount of silence passed over them. “I did”.

 

Karai let out and exasperated sigh and looked at the sky.

 

“So you ran away?” Mikey asked cheerfully “Dude, so did I!”

 

Napoleon croaked. “Can you teach me to be a ninja”

 

“Sure, I'm the greatest ninja ever. I will teach you everything!”

 

“Sweet” Napoleon said.

 

Karai found herself staring between Mikey and Napoleon now as they had a conversation. Everything Napoleon said lacked emotion and vocal fluctuation. It was a constant lazy deadpan only broken up when he either licked his face or croaked. It made him hard to read, and hell to listen to.

 

“I ran away because my brothers didn't appreciate me as their leader an all” Mikey was explaining as Karai found herself listening to their conversation again. She made eye contact his Mikey who gave her a nervous smile.

 

Napoleon looked at her. “Why did you runaway?”

 

She glanced at Mikey again keeping her face blank. “I was also a member of Leader Michelangelo's Clan, being a loyal follower I came with him”.

 

“Gosh” Napoleon said.

 

“How did you get exiled, Napoleon?” Mikey asked nervously.

 

Napoleon croaked. “They called me stupid and then begged me to be their leader, so I left instead. They're idiots”

 

She pushed down a bark of laughter. Napoleon had said that with a straight face but the story was too far fetched. He had the tone to pull off a lie, he didn't have the forethought behind it.

 

“Why did they beg for you to be their leader?” Karai asked with what would read as genuine interest. It was fun to see how far someone would defend a lie or false story.

 

“It's a long story” Napoleon said “I will tell you-” he stopped.

 

Karai and Mikey waited, Mikey with actual eagerness.

 

He croaked “-no, I will show you in the morning”

 

“Awesome!” Mikey exclaimed. “So where do you live now in exile?”

 

Karai sighed. The frog walked forward past Mikey, he didn't swing his arms as he walked, they just hung there at his sides. “I will show you”

 

She slithered next to Mikey as they followed Napoleon into the woods. He was a few yards in front of them, occasionally he would use his tongue to grab a fly out of the air.

 

“Why did you lie back there” Mikey asked quietly looking upset.

 

Karai shrugged. “I'm running away too”

 

“You can't run away!” Mikey frowned.

 

“I can't?” she asked perplexed. Almost taunting him to say what he was inevitably going to say next.

 

Mikey closed his mouth into a tight line and didn't talk to her the rest of the time they followed Napoleon. He had caught on to exactly what she was doing, which was using the same reasoning he was to make him realize running away was stupid. He wasn't going to accept it easily.

 

“Here we are” Napoleon declared.

 

Karai sighed for a second time.

 

“You live in an ice cream truck!” Mikey exclaimed. He was exclaiming a lot of things this early morning.

 

Napoleon didn't respond.

 

Mikey ran towards the truck and looked inside “Is there ice cream in here?”

 

“What's ice cream?” Napoleon asked.

 

A gasp rang out and Karai rolled her eyes. “So you live in there?” she asked the frog.

 

Napoleon digested this question. “No” he said.

 

“What!?” Mikey asked “Dude! Why not, living in an ice cream truck has to be like my dream!”

 

_Don't say it don't say it._

 

“It's locked” Napoleon stated.

 

Mikey scoffed “I can pick a lock!”

 

“Alright, you two have...fun, with that” Karai excused herself from the group “Leader Micheangelo, I am going to gather some wood for a fire”

 

“Very good” Mikey replied with his shell was to her, obviously more focused on getting inside the ice cream truck.

 

“You do know there's going to be no ice cream in there right?” she asked before leaving.

 

“Don't let your dreams be dreams, Karai” Mikey replied.

 

Karai groaned and slithered away. She needed some really dry wood and two rocks she could strike together to make a fire. There was no plan in her mind. Sure there was a goal. The goal was to get Mikey back to the farmhouse. Karai never made plans, not plans like Leo. He knew all the players and where to place them. She worked alone, the only piece she moved was herself. She found some sticks that met her requirements and bundled them up under her arm. She could still in the dark hear Napoleon and Mikey working on the lock. Napoleon, being a frog could most likely see in the dark, how Mikey was navigating was a mystery.

 

_Maybe the trees were telling him where to go._

 

When she returned the door was open to the truck but Mikey looked bummed. “You were right, there's no ice cream”

 

Karai dropped her wood in a pile “That sucks because there was such a high chance of their being ice cream in an abandoned ice cream truck that looks like it was dumped here in the 1960's”

 

Mikey nodded solemnly.

 

“I declare this Fort Napoleon” Napoloen declared coming out of the truck.

 

 _Of course you would_. “I'm going to start a fire Leader Micheangelo”

 

“Sister, please” Mikey looked at her with a smirk “In private you may call me Mikey”. Karai smirked back. The game was on, he would press all her buttons to get her to go away, and she'd press them all back. Mikey's feelings were hurt, but he didn't really want to alienate his own family. She was certain of this.

 

Napoleon, in awe of Mikey's leadership stared with his mouth agape, or his mouth was just agape because that was its default position. “So like when do we begin my ninja training?”

 

“How about after sun up?” Mikey asked.

 

Karai started the fire, making sure to clear away anything that the fire could spread to, it was really dry. Fearing she was turing into a real rural body she did actually acknowledge that they could use a good storm soon. As she encouraged the flames to grow a previously dormant fear tugged at the back of her head. Forest fires were dangerous in two ways now. One, fire. Two, people would come to investigate the fire.

 

People and mutants don't mix.

 

If people find out about her, if news of a half snake half girl lives in the woods got out it would most definitely get back to ~~her father~~ The Shredder.

 

Her stomach twisted as she stared into the fire.

 

It wasn't just Mikey she had to worry about, she was a target too. She suddenly went over to a nearby tree and dug past the first layer of dry leaves until she hit moist decaying leaves. Using her bare hands she took a large slimy scoop and dropped it on the fire. It weakened into a few small smoldering flames.

 

“Karai what are you doing?” Mikey asked.

 

She did it again, and the fire was extinguished completely leaving them in the dark.

 

“What did you do that for?” Mikey asked. His voice was far away.

 

She breathed in and out and focused of the distant sound of hundreds upon hundreds of frogs croaking. In her opinion she had been doing a very good job at not thinking about The Shredder. Now his voice was in her ear and everything she associated with his voice came back into focus.

 

“We need to keep a low profile” she snapped quietly keeping her face void of emotion. “No fire”.

 

She slithered past them both and up into a tree. “Are you okay?” Mikey asked, from far away again. Like she was at the bottom of a pool and he was talking on the surface.

 

She found a sturdy branch and wrapped herself around it letting her top half lay on the branch on her belly as her lower half was coiled to keep her in place. She hung her arm down and closed her eyes, Napoleon and Mikey were talking now, it was their distant voiced the lulled her off to sleep.

 

* * *

 May 15th, 2014 | 11:55 am

* * *

“Sleep on it” was one of those cliche sayings that Karai would hear passed back and forth in normal conversation between average people with average lives. It was so common to hear that whenever she would have to watch a target, or listen to the feed of a bugged house it was textbook for someone to have to make a hard decision and their friend would say “Sleep on it”.

 

What the fuck does that even mean she'd always ask. “Sleep on it” she mouthed at the forest floor thirty feet below like giving it sound would make the saying a magic spell.

 

Karai knew what it was suppose to mean. Before making a life altering decision you give it some time. That's an average Joe solution though. Ninjas are always making decisions and most decisions have to be made right then. Ninjas don't “Sleep on it”.

 

For example, had she read Mikey's note and slept on it she would not be where she was now. She'd probably be in the kitchen, being woken up by the first person to enter the kitchen. Then Karai supposed she would explain:

 

“ _Oh, you see I read Mikey's running away note”_

 

“ _And?” the hypothetical person would inevitably ask._

 

“ _I was going to go after him in just this T-Shirt and no weapons but then I slept on it and realized that was a horrible fucking idea”_

 

_Giving their approval the hypothetical person would nod “Good thing you slept on it, now we have six people who can look for Mikey. Let's make a well thought out plan now”._

 

Karai rubbed her hand over her face. This was the epitome of exhaustion. Fake conversations were never a good sign.

 

It had to be quarter to noon, it was late morning. Below the truck door opened and Mikey stepped out stretching. He was far more flexible than Karai had realized. “Good morning Karai!” Mikey waved to her in the tree.

 

She gave a curt wave back.

 

Napoleon came out afterward, he grabbed a fly out of the air with his tongue. Mikey creased his brow then found a fly and tried to shoot his tongue out at it.

 

Karai slithered down the tree, wishing she'd worn a bra, and went over to Mikey....who was still trying to catch a fly with his tongue. “Mikey, we need to go home, I'm sure Leo and Raph and D-”

 

“E are oing oh” Mikey said with his tongue out.

 

Karai stared.

 

“Ah Napoleon made that look easy” Mikey sighed.

 

“Wait did you say we are going home?” Karai asked having just now translated Mikey's gibberish.

 

Mikey smiled “Yep! Napoleon told me all about his family and his tribe and we decided we are going home!”

 

Karai's shoulders dropped as a new wave of frustration hit her. “What the fuck do you mean?”

 

“Karai!” Mikey scolded “Language!”

 

“You're sixteen” Karai scolded back.

 

Mikey pointed very animatedly at Napoleon, who was still eating flies “We are in the company of a frog!” he poked her a few times in the top of the sternum “so watch your mouth young lady”

 

Karai sanded her teeth together. _Don't kill him, don't kill him, don't kill h-_ “I'm older than-”

 

“Karai, maybe you didn't notice but Napoleon” he cut her off and cupped his hands around his mouth and whispered “Is a few pepperonia short of being a pizza” he shot a nervous glance back at Napoleon to insure he was still distracted.

 

“I did.” she responded shortly.

 

Mikey nodded “That's why we have to help him!”

 

 _I could slither away._ _I could slither back to the farm house, claim I went looking for Mikey but never found him._ “Why?” Karai asked as she rubbed her temples. She realized why she'd catch Leo sitting alone rubbing his head.

 

“Look, Napoleon isn't sharp enough to solve this” Mikey continued. “And honestly, neither am I, but” he gave her a pleading look “I know someone who can”

 

_No._

 

“It's not a physical fight, it just seems like Napoleon's father doesn't want to listen to his son!”

 

Karai looked up at some branches before looking back to Mikey, whose eyes were now the size of saucers.

 

 _Fuck._ “Mikey, I am not the best person to have solving Daddy Issues”

 

Mikey frowned. “If you help me help Napoleon, I'll come back to the farmhouse”

 

“I was planning on going back to the farmhouse anyways” she rubbed some crud out of her eyes “I'm not going to play family therapist for a bunch of mutant frogs”

 

She turned to slither away, but Mikey blocked her. “No one listened to me about April's Mom being an alien” he said “and now no one is listening to me about this!”

 

“Is Napoleon a-”

 

“No!” Mikey looked over at Napoleon “I know what it's like to be an outcast in your own family though, and I can't just not help him if I know how to help!”

 

Napoleon was currently croaking on a boulder, eyes unfocused. Karai sighed “Alright, I'll come with you to Napoleon's...tribe?”

 

“Awesome” Mikey cheered, then winced before rattling off at high speed “Oh-and-just-one-more-thing-real-quick-I-might-have-just-maybe-caused-their-mutation-because-I-was-fighting-Mrs-O'Alien-by-a-creek-last-evening-and-you-would-not-guess-what-she-had-it-was-a-can-of-mutagen-and-I-accidentally-but-also-really-on-purpose-kicked-it-out-of-her-hands-and-now-there-might-be-like-two-hundred-mutant-frogs-in-the-woods”

 

“Wait-”

 

“Napoleon” Mikey quickly turned away from her before she could question him “Let's train you up, bro!”

 

_Two-hundred?_

 

* * *

 May 15th, 2014 | 2:05 pm

* * *

“So” Karai stood next to Mikey as they watched Napoleon attempt a backflip “This is your plan?”

 

Mikey cringed as Napoleon face planted into the dirt for the- well Karai wasn't bothering to count “Yeah, I guess. I was thinking like Napoleon would show up and he would show his dad a bunch of these sick moves and then he could lay down the law and claim leadership”

 

Karai looked up at the sky again. “Mikey, I think Napoleon is lying”

 

“What?”

 

“He's lying, I don't think he ran away because” she brought out the air quotes “they were begging him to be their leader”.

 

Mikey scowled “He wouldn't lie to me, we're friends”

 

“You've know him less than twenty four hours” she was frustrated now “and you lied to him as soon as you met him!”

 

“Oh yeah...” Mikey pondered this.

 

She watched Napoleon reattempt his back flip. “He's really good at landing on his face” she remarked after a moment.

 

Mikey nodded “He's wicked top heavy”

 

“Since you don't have a plan, I say we go to Napoleon's tribe sooner than later and get the whole story” she looked over to Mikey hoping he'd be agreeable. He kept watching Napoleon.

 

“Okay, good plan.” Mikey stated tapping his chin. “Napoleon! My follower Karai has come up with an idea!”

 

_Follower?_

 

Napoleon stared up at Mikey from the ground.

 

“Take us to your tribe!”

 

Napoleon got up and croaked. “Okay”

 

The frog started walking in a seemingly random direction. He didn't tell them to follow but Karai and Mikey did anyways.

 

At first Napoleon was silent but soon Mikey had him in a deep conversation. Karai decided she'd at least give Mikey credit for having a natural ability to get people to open up to him.

 

She was about twenty feet behind the duo. She tried to look for landmarks in the daylight, signs of people or civilization. A tribe of two hundred frog mutants would leave a foot print.

 

Karai also regretted staying as long as she had. She could have been spending the day with Leo instead of this. Whatever “this” was.

 

 _What would Leo and I even do?_ There wasn't much of a plan past going to the pavilion. Casey and Raph likely would get drunk and listen to the radio or talk. Karai wouldn't mind getting completely wasted after this but she knew for a fact Leo would probably not get drunk with her, and being drunk with a sober Leo sounded like a nightmare.

 

She knew it was a nightmare from experience, not speculation, which made it worse. She groaned inwardly at herself as those nasty memories came back to make fun of her.

 

As they neared their destination, Karai could feel the croaking of hundreds of frogs, but with less severity than the night before. Hearing frogs croak during the day wasn't common, but during the night when she was on the hunt it was a comfort almost. Frogs croaking meant they hadn't heard her so in a strange way the louder the croaking became the more successful Karai felt. Donnie would have science to explain that, but Karai decided silently to herself never to ask. She was weird enough.

 

What they approached made Karai more frustrated than the ice cream truck. The ice cream truck was hidden, this on the other hand was huge and stood trees over the forest. It was the largest redwood tree she had ever seen. It was almost comically out of place amongst its surrounding.

 

“Are people blind?” she asked no one.

 

“Here” Napoleon gestured to a large bird cage made of wood.

 

Mikey, who Karai decided for her own sanity must have learned how to decipher Napoleon's tongue flicks and face licks as some sort of language, got in right behind him.

 

Taking one neck crane look up at the tree Karai also got in the quote unquote “elevator.”

 

As it began its rise to the tree Karai waited patiently until they broke through the canopy. She tried to see if the farmhouse was visible from this place. It wasn't.

 

“Wait Karai how should we introduce ourselves?” Mikey whispered to her.

 

“Why does it matter?” she tried to hide the frustration in her voice.

 

“We have to make a good impression, for Napoleon's sake”

 

“Right” _Of course._ She faked a deep thought “As your second in command I will formally introduce the party to whoever Napoleon takes us to”

 

Mikey seemed content with that which allowed Karai to enjoy their ascent in silence. Even the cringe inducing memories of puking on Leo while drunk were slowly crawling back into whatever crevice she crammed them into to begin with.

 

Karai had five seconds to make a plan.

 

Karai realized this was fucked from the start.

 

The elevator stopped at a large wooden platform. Two very large frogs had been using a system of pulleys to get the elevator up and immediately rolled their eyes at the trio. Napoleon huffed and gestured for Mikey and her to follow them through a tent village.

 

Not tents made of animal hide or leaves, but tents straight out of the “outdoors” section of any supermarket or box store. One of the tents looked like a carbon copy of the one she had used when slithering up to the farmhouse.

 

“Psst” Mikey called back to her “Where'd they get all this stuff?”

 

Before she could answer they were at the trunk of the tree facing a throne with the fattest frog Karai had seen since slithering onto the wooden platform. Now she had more questions. First being where did they get all of the very human crafted camping gear and second (and more importantly) what type of society this was.

 

“Napoleon” the frog drawled “Back so soon my son?”

 

“Hmph, I thought for sure you'd be gone for good Napoleon” mused a frog to the right of the throne “Especially after what shame you brought us”

 

“Whatever Genghis” Napoleon sneered back before looking sheepishly at his father “Attila these are my friends Karate and Michael”

 

“They must be simple to be friends of yours” Genghis noted.

 

On the left of the throne that Attila sat on Karai saw another frog. Her was busying himself with mason jars full of liquids but his position seemed similar to Genghis’s. Karai slithered forward and bowed. “I am Karai, and this is my leader and brother Michelangelo, we are seeking refuge for a short while”.

 

It wasn't perfect, she knew that but time was precious and Karai recognized a man (or well frog) who would appreciate the stroking of his ego. Attila leaned forward and squinted “Refuge you seek?” he asked before leaning back in thought.

 

“We can not trust these strangers” the frog on the left said staring a hole into Mikey's smile “Turtles have shells, why do they have shells unless they are hiding things?”

 

Attila nodded.

 

“And the nagi is part human, humans can not be trusted”

 

“I'm not hiding any secrets in my sh-”

 

“Silence!” Attila scolded “Rasputin speaks truth, do not enter my kingdom and claim to be trustworthy”

 

Genghis stepped forward now off the raised platform where their thrones sat “How did you find these two?” though he was shorter than Napoleon, the taller frog shrunk back a little “were they with humans?”

 

“No, get away Genghis, they were alone gosh” Napoleon explained.

 

“Yeah we ran away!” Mikey added.

 

“Ran away you say? From where?” Attila questioned.

 

Mikey smiled knowing Attila was interested. It was better than him and his company being aggressive. “Yeah my brothers and I live in a farmhouse because our old home in New York got invaded, but then we got in a fight and I ran away and my sister came with me!”

 

“Who lives in the farmhouse?” Genghis moved in front of Mikey now.

 

“Well there's Raph. He's a turtle, like me, and he has sias and an attitude problem” Mikey mimicked some moves with invisible sias. “And there's Donnie, he's really smart, he uh does things with uh his laptop?” Mikey tapped his chin “And then there's Leo with with swords” Mikey made whooshing noises with a fake sword “He's our.... uh he's our ...leader” Mikey gulped and looked over at Napoleon realizing he outed himself “And then I'm the screw up”

 

Napoleon frown and looked away.

 

“And then there's April and Casey, April owns the house it's like been in her family for years or something-”

 

Rasputin and Attila shared a glance “Are these the humans?” Attilas asked.

 

“Yep” Mikey said “But they're cool, I guess except April's mom she was less than cool”

 

Karai whipped her tail at Mikey's ankle.

 

“Hey-”

 

“Then it is settled, you may seek refuge from the humans you have escaped from” Attila sat back folding his hands over his belly “Alexander show our guests where they will be staying”

 

From a branch above Alexander hopped down. Her was wearing armor...a muddy life jacket and a bicycle helmet that had the green power puff on it. Karai wondered what the average intelligence of the frog community was.

 

Alexander led them to a set of stairs and just pointed us to a smaller wooden platform before leaving.

 

“You lied to me” Napoleon said once Alexander was gone.

 

Mikey winced “Nap-”

 

“I thought we were like friends?” he turned and walked away leaving Mikey and Karai at the base of the staircase.

 

“Now what?” He asked Karai.

 

She held up her hand in silence.

 

“What?”

 

“Why are they letting us stay here?” Karai asked in a hushed tone.

 

Mikey shrugged “We're refugees?”

 

Karai frowned “Something isn't right” she pointed back to the throne “Now there are more soldiers over there”

 

Mikey hummed in acknowledgment.

 

“When we mentioned humans and running away they were suddenly on our side” Karai crossed her arms. “Now they are sending soldiers somewhere”

 

“We could ask the locals?” Mikey added gesturing to the overcrowded tent city around them. “I mean they are all kind of staring at us...so...”

 

He was right as Karai glanced around there were quiet a few lookie loos. She sighed “Yeah, I mean it's not like we can do anymore damage at this point”

 

* * *

 May 15th, 2014 | 6:35 pm

* * *

Talking to the locals was actually a good idea. It seemed the younger frogs were more inclined to talk to her and Mikey while the older ones would push past them or simply ignore them. Every time they explained how they were brought to the tree the frogs would laugh and tell them a story about Napoleon. Many of them were repeats but the gist of it was Napoleon had always been clumsy frog since his mutation and his father wanted a soldier.

 

As the day bled on Mikey and Karai became separated. Mikey was playing tag with six very small frog children and Karai found herself in the presence of a very old toad. The toad wore a quilt wrapped all around her body with only her face sticking out.

 

“I know you” the toad startled Karai but she didn't show it “I'd see you in the woods, hunting the deer, scaling the trees”

 

Karai nodded not knowing what to say.

 

“I was terrified of you” she continued “You were so large and powerful, you sent other snakes in the opposite direction”

 

“Uh, I'm sorry” Karai started.

 

The toad shook her head “No dear, those are the thoughts of a toad long gone”

 

Karai nodded again, pretending she understood. One ear on the toad in front of her and the other on Mikey and his game of tag.

 

“Sadly not all of us are so quick to remember that life is too short for grudges so minor”

 

“What do you mean” Karai asked.

 

She gestured around her “Actions have consequences, and those who have been wronged will seek out what is right”

 

Karai frowned. It was entirely possible this was the ramblings of a senile toad. “Okay..”

 

The toad took a long inhale from her pipe.

 

“I think we should find Napoleon” Mikey came up behind her “I'm getting hungry and” he cups his hands around his mouth before loudly whispering “I am really bad at catching flies”

 

“Right...” Karai says before turning back to the toad “Thanks for talking with me” she says before letting herself fall behind Mikey as he searched for Napoleon.

 

“Do you think he is still mad?” Mikey asks.

 

Karai kept looking around the platform. “I'm sure we'll find out”

 

Mikey hummed in agreement.

 

Luckily Napoleon was in the same place Mikey and Karai had been led to originally. Mikey climbed the steps and Karai slithered up next.

 

“Man how do you guys see around here when it gets dark?”

 

Napoleon looks over and frowned “Can you not see?”

 

“I can see!” Mikey defended “Just you know, with light”

 

“I thought we were friends” Napoleon looked away. He was sitting on the edge of the platform with his legs dangling over the edge. “Why did you lie to me?”

 

“I just....” Mikey went right over to Napoleon and sat next to him “...wanted you to think I was cool”

 

Karai took in the view while they talked. There was actually a lot of really expensive stuff up in this tree. Expensive camping gear. She chewed the inside of her cheek.

 

“But you are cool, I'm the loser, you heard my dad”

 

Some of this stuff looked like it was from stores, there was even an above ground pool that had escaped her notice before. It was full of tadpoles. Karai decided to not obsess over the implications of that.

 

She completely tuned out Mikey and Napoleon. Two Hundred frogs in under a day have acquired an abundance of material possessions.

 

_That cannot have gone unnoticed._

 

“Hey earth to Karai!” Mikey waved a hand in front of her “Napoleon is gonna show us the ways of a frog”

 

“What?”

 

“We're getting food!” Mikey cheered as he and Napoleon went down the steps. Karai followed.

 

“Where are we getting food from again?” she asked.

 

Mikey shrugged “Napoleon knows a place”

 

“Yeah, I hope no one else has been there” he added with a croak.

 

* * *

 May 15th, 2014 | 10:25 pm

* * *

Getting food turned out to be code for robbing a camp site. After a debate about stealing, they looked around for food deciding to take what they absolutely needed. Like good campers these people had an abundance of trailmix and fruit snacks. Mikey and Napoleon ate most of them while Karai searched for something to write on. She could at least leave a note.

 

Mikey and Napoleon talked some more. They were sharing stories next to a battery powered lantern Mikey discovered. Napoleon's stories were interesting to Karai because they were literally memories of being an unmutated frog but she eventually turned her attention to a clean notepad.

 

    Dear Campers,

    Sorry we stole your shit, we are literally homeless and hungry.

    We only took food.

    Sincerely, thieves.

 

Karai nodded to herself. No point in being nice about it. She tore it off and folded it once leaving it on a sleeping bag.

 

Napoleon and Mikey were still eating and chatting. Karai flipped to a new page.

 

    Dear Leo,

 

She tapped the pen on the paper. She flipped to a new page.

 

    Leo,

 

“And writer's block” she sighed. New page.

 

    Blue,

 

 _That's better, love letters are suppose to be personal_. She clicked the pen. Love letters. She gagged and inhale through her mouth and out her nose.

 

    Remember when I kidnapped you and forced you to fight my foot bots?

    But not before, you know, having you in a tiny cage suspended from the ceiling?

 

 

She reread the words to herself.

 

    ~~Remember when I kidnapped you and forced you to fight my foot bots?~~

    ~~But not before, you know, having you in a tiny cage suspended from the ceiling?~~

    What the fuck am I doing.

 

Karai closed the diary and tossed it in the air letting it hit the ground with a distant smack.

 

“What the fuck am I doing” she asked herself.

 

“Throwing things?” Mikey answered.

 

“Nothing gets past you”

 

Mikey smiled at her “Nope, I'm pretty good at figuring stuff out”

 

“Have you figured out where all the obviously stolen items in that tree came from?”

 

“Yep” Mikey said “They were stolen!”

 

“Idiots” Napoleon grumbled.

 

Mikey nodded in agreement “Yeah, turns out Genghis is the one behind all these recent camp site robberies!”

 

“Aren't we” she gestured to the campsite they were currently robbing “robbing a campsite right now?”

 

“Yeah” he shook his bag of sunflower seeds “For food, but Genghis takes everything. Then they bring it to their tree”

 

“Idiots” Napoleon threw a gummy bear at a tree four feet away. He missed.

 

“So” Karai flipped her pen around in her hand “Napoleon thinks his father and Genghis are idiots for stealing?”

 

“The humans will come for their things but no one believes me” Napoleon threw another gummy bear. “There are more humans than just the ones in the forest”

 

“What?” Mikey asked.

 

Napoleon got up and started pacing around the camp site “Rasputin went out in the early days-”

 

“You mean yesterday?”

 

“-and collected data or something. He says that humans have a smaller population than us. Rasputin and Genghis have my dad convinced that if we ever went to war with the humans we would win” Napoleon sat down again and croaked several times in rapid succession.

 

“Easy buddy” Mikey rubbed Napoleon's back “We'll figure this out”

 

Karai retrieved the pad of paper she had thrown earlier “Okay, now we can get somewhere” she flipped to a fresh page “We just need to bring evidence that the human population is seven billion not the fifty campers that happen to choose this national park for their vacation”

 

A truck pulled up. It was far enough away that they were able to make their way to some dense shrubbery and hide. Luckily the headlights were aimed at the tents not the bush where the bleach white snake was hidden. Karai was also relieved that Mikey turned the lantern off.

 

Out of the truck came two guys. Two drunk guys. The passenger helped drag out an even more inebriated woman. She was slurring her words.

 

“Thi is not m'house” she said as the driver helped his buddy lift her up.

 

“Come on Erin you said you'd show us your party trick” the passenger goaded.

 

Erin tried to pull away “I wanna go home” she said a little more clearly but still slurred. Karai's heart raced.

 

“Don't be a tease, we bought you all those drinks after all” the driver lifted her chin up and squeezed her face.

 

Karai glanced over at Mikey. He already had his nunchaku in hand. They nodded at each other before jumping out from behind the bush.

 

Their appearance did most of the hard work.

 

“What the fuck!” the passenger shrieked releasing his grip on the girl, she stumbled before collapsing in a heap as the driver also jumped back.

 

“Get away from her!” Mikey demanded spinning his nunchucks. Karai chased them around the truck hissing. Since they were drunk they ran poorly. A wet spot appeared on the front of the drivers jeans all the way down his pant legs.

 

He fumbled with the handle of the door yelping obscenities, when they finally got in and closed the door Karai pounded her fist on the passenger window and barely suppressed a cackled as the man nearly scrambled into the lap of his buddy. Hands shaking the man started the ignition and reversed the truck all the way out of the camp site. Karai and Mikey gave the truck a small chase for good measure.

 

“That was awesome” Napoleon said behind them.

 

“That's just what ninjas do” Mikey proclaimed

 

Erin pointed at Napoleon and giggled “Ha, you look- look like a frog”.

 

She was still on the ground slightly oblivious. “So what do we do now?” Mikey asked.

 

Karai felt the satisfaction of having chased those men away seep out of her. “I don't know....I've never-”

 

“Stopped an assault?” Mikey finished her sentence.

 

She felt her throat tighten at the word. Would Leo have told his brothers about-

 

“No” she answered out loud, her voice wavering slightly. Mikey either didn't notice or wasn't going to push it. She wasn't sure because her heart was in her ears.

 

“Leo usually has us call the cops if they don't” he waves his hand at Erin's giggling form, she was making a snow angel out of the leaves and litter on the ground “uh run away from us screaming”

 

Karai nodded.

 

“You guys talk to humans?” Napoleon asked.

 

Mikey shrugged “I mean, over the phone they don't know that we aren't also human so...”

 

“Wow”

 

Karai slithered over to Erin. Was she drugged or drunk? Karai spotted the outline of a cellphone in her front pocket. She leaned down and took it while Erin was still busy with her snow angel. “I guess we should call the cops then?”

 

Mikey nodded “Yeah, it's the right thing to do”

 

Erin didn't have a lock screen. Karai got into the phone and paused. “Hey go grab that notepad” she gestured to the one she dropped when the truck showed up, Mikey grabbed it. “If we are going to call the cops we need to know where we are” she said when he gave her a funny look.

 

“Right” Mikey agreed flipping to a fresh page and clicking his pen.

 

“Oh my god I have t'same exact phone!” Erin told Karai.

 

Karai ignored her and opened Maps. “Alright write this down...”

 

* * *

 May 15th, 2014 | 11:05 pm

* * *

They waited until they saw red and blue flashing lights and then left Erin passed out on the ground. Karai left Erin's cellphone in her hand. It felt weird. Erin was the first human stranger she had talked to since her mutation. The conversation had been very one sided, but still it was refreshing.

 

The trio wandered far enough away that the scene was just a sliver between trees. The police wouldn't likely search the area, Karai had made the phone call pretending to have overheard the men talking about where they were taking Erin. She purposefully made it sound like she wasn't at the scene.

 

Karai coiled down. They were resting. She still had the notepad, she rubbed her thumb over it feeling sick to her stomach.

 

“Are you okay?” Mikey asked her. He was really squinting in the dark to see her.

 

Karai took a deep breath. “I'm going home” she told him.

 

There was a hand around her throat and Karai rubbed her neck in a futile attempt to convince herself it was in her head.

 

“What about Napoleon?” Mikey asked.

 

The Shredder was grabbing her face, he brushed his thumb over her lips. She clenched her jaw.

 

“What about us?” she swallowed.

 

“Mikey” Napoleon spoke up “You have been a really good friend to me, but I don't think anyone can convince my dad that a war with the humans would be the end of us”

 

Mikey sighed.

 

“I think we need to move south, away from people” Napoleon added.

 

Karai closed her eyes and counted to ten. _“I raised you, you are nothing without me”_ The Shredder growled.

 

“You can go home Karai....but I have to try” Mikey said.

 

They stared at each other.

 

“There are kids in that tribe” he added “And I know for a fact that being a kid mutant doesn't-” he paused abruptly “they'll only see monsters”

 

Mikey's face was distant, he was thinking about something else. She wanted the full story. _Did something happen to_ _him_ _as a kid?_

 

“Let's ...sleep on it. Erin's phone said it was 11:05pm” Karai yawned shakily “Then in the morning we'll all head back and try to warn them”

 

Mikey nodded but he didn't smile.

 

* * *

 May 16th, 2014 | 12:55 pm

* * *

They went back to the scene of the crime. The two drunks probably weren't coming back, and it was a perfectly fine campsite. Karai felt no guilt about dirtying up their tents and snooping around their bags. She spent the first hour in the tent doing just that. Pulling articles of clothing out of a duffel bag and then tossing them aside after turning all the pockets inside out. She found a nice jacket, it was big on her but it had pockets that zipped shut.

 

“Karai?” Mikey whispered outside her tent.

 

She was stretching her arm out and looking at the sleeve of her new jacket, but she had heard Mikey unzip his tent flap, leave his tent with Napoleon still in it, zip up the tent and walk seven feet over to her tent. “What?” she whispered back.

 

“I don't know how to knock on a tent” he whispered unsure.

 

“Just come in”

 

Mikey unzipped the door and crawled in on his hand and knees. He sat up and zipped the door shut. Karai discovered a secret pocket on the inside of her jacket, she pretended to be fascinated with it.

 

“Nice jacket” Mikey commented.

 

Karai hummed.

 

Silence hung in the tent. He played with the settings on the lantern for a bit before tapping his fingers together, looking at the tent, he made popping noise with his mouth then repeating this ritual.

 

“Is there something I can do for you?” she asked while digging her hand into a zipper pocket of a fanny pack she smirked and pulled out a chain of five condoms.

 

Mikey stared at the condoms “I just couldn't sleep”

 

“What the fuck are flavored condoms?” she read out loud in disgust before throwing the condoms in the “no” corner of her tent. “Join the club” she turned to Mikey.

 

“Normally this is where you ask why I can't sleep”

 

“Because if I ask you would tell me why you can't sleep?”

 

“Maybe”

 

Karai nodded and found a melted cough drop glue to its wrapper. “This bag is a mess” she threw the cough drop in the corner on top of the condoms.

 

“Why aren't you asleep?” he asked.

 

“I couldn't” she pointed to the mess in her tent “not with all this...treasure”

 

“I wonder what the guys are doing right now”

 

“Is that why you aren't sleeping?” she asked.

 

The backpack was mostly gutted now, she threw it aside and turned her full attention to Mikey. “No” he admitted “But I still wonder”

 

“I don't know them well enough to even guess what they are doing”

 

Mikey nodded “I've known them all my life and even I'm not sure I could guess what they are doing”

 

Karai stared.

 

“I just don't want to be alone right now” he added softly.

 

 _Oh._ “You can stay in my tent, with me” she offered.

 

“Thanks” he said to the floor. “I'm still not tired though”

 

“Neither am I” Karai sighed.

 

Napoleon was snoring in the neighboring tent. Normally when someone doesn't want to be alone they are looking for a distraction. She glanced over at Mikey who was picking at tarp on the ground. One fist propping up his head. _But I don't have stories..._

 

“Hey” she said suddenly “I know what we can do to pass the time”

 

“What?”

 

Karai chewed her cheek “Uh, it's a game I used to play when I was a kid with Shi-” she stopped “with my friend” Mikey looked interested so she continued. “Okay, I tell you something about me, and then you tell me something about you”

 

“How is that a game?” he asked.

 

“Well at first it's really easy because you can just tell each other your favorite book or the name of your first pet” Mikey nodded along “then after that you have to keep telling them something new, something more personal, so it gets harder”

 

Mikey grimaced “How do you win?”

 

“First one to quit loses”

 

“Okay” he said “That sounds fun, I think”

 

Karai smiled, Mikey no longer looked completely depressed “Alright I guess I'll go first” she paused for a moment “Okay my first pet was a beetle I found in the garden, it lived in my dresser drawer until a maid found it and killed it”

 

Mikey cringed “Uh, sorry for your loss?” he paused “My favorite color is red”

 

“My favorite color is blue”

 

“My first pet was Ice Cream Kitty”

 

“I got stuck in a piano”

 

“I got stuck in a sewer pipe”

 

They decided to end it there with three points each. Mikey slept on one side of the tent and she slept on the other.

 

* * *

 May 16th, 2014 | 6:50 am

* * *

Karai woke up at the crack of dawn, Mikey was still asleep so she quietly put her jacket on and sipped on a bottle of sparkling water. _Who the fuck decided to carbonate water?_

 

She loaded her pockets with another disgusting sparkling water and a bag of trail mix. There was a way she could prove how large the population of New York was, but it involved running away from Mikey. Locating the notebook she flipped it open and paused.

 

    Blue,

     ~~Remember when I kidnapped you and forced you to fight my foot bots?~~

     ~~But not before, you know, having you in a tiny cage suspended from the ceiling?~~

    What the fuck am I doing.

    He laughs about it.

 

The last line wasn't in her handwriting. She dragged her finger over the words before flipping to a clean page.

 

    Mikey,

    I have to get something, but I'll be back at the tree by sunset.

    Stay with the frog.

    Sorry I didn't wake you.

    -Karai

 

She clicked the pen a few times.

 

    Mikey,

    I have to get something, but I'll be back at the tree by sunset.

    Stay with the frog.

    Sorry I didn't wake you.

    -Karai

    P.S- I still think The Ring is the scariest movie I have ever scene.

 

Leaving the notepad next to Mikey open to the page with her note, she slithered out of the tent and quietly zipped it up.

 

It was time to go back to the farmhouse.

 

* * *

 May 16th, 2014 | 11:30 am

* * *

“Death to humans?” she read as she approached the house. It was the first out of place thing she noticed, but she wasn't going to stop and memorize every little piece of property damage, she only noted the farmhouse's general chaotic essence as she slithered onto the front porch.

 

“Oh my god!” April tackled her as soon as she got in the door. “Karai where have-”

 

“Phone book”

 

April stopped holding Karai in a death grip hug. “-you...phone book?”

 

Karai looked past her into the rest of the house. Leo and Raph were leaning over the dining room table but now both of them were looking at her with a mixture of shock. “Where's your phone book?”

 

Stepping back April raised her brow “Why?”

 

“It's a really long story” she brushed past April and into the living room to look at the table tops and shelves. “And I really need a phone book”

 

“Did ya hit yer head? Fall outta tree or somethin'?” she ignore him and started her frantic search.

 

“Raph, just...” Leo moved over from the dining room into the living room “Okay, uh, Karai let's slow down-”

 

“Can't really slow down Leo there are hundred of lives at stake” the living room held no phone book so she slithered into the dining room Leo following her.

 

“Hundreds of lives?”

 

Karai picked up a thick book and tossed it to the side when it wasn't a phone book. “Well, hundreds of frog lives” she corrected. She opened every cabinet in the kitchen before a green hand reached out and grabbed hers. She let herself be steered until she was facing a very confused Leo.

 

Raph and April watched form the dining room as Leo tried to deal with her. Karai realized she did look like someone who had slept two nights in a row in the woods and was now blabbering about a phone book. “Just stop for one second” he said firmly “and tell us what is going on, you and Mikey have been missing for-”

 

“I know I left on an awkward note. I didn't plan on asking you out on a date and then running after Mikey but I asked you out and you didn't answer and so I came down to the kitchen to get some ice and I talked to myself for awhile and I didn't mean to tell you that part I haven't really had much sleep in the past few days and- THERE!” she ripped her hands away from Leo and shot herself past Raph and April back into the dining room. “This is what I was looking for!”

 

“She hit her head Leo” Raph commented.

 

“Rasputin can shove this right up his ass!” she clutched the phone book to her chest. “Also” she slithered up to Raph “shut up Sofia”

 

Raph threw his arms up in disbelief “What!?”

 

“It's one of the Golden Girls” Leo supplied as he walked by Raph and followed Karai out of the farmhouse.

 

“It's sad that ya know that Leo!”

 

“Karai, just- hold on one second” he called after her “Where are you going?”

 

“I'm going to show Rasputin, Attila, and Genghis that Napoleon is right!”

 

There was a beat of silence.

 

“Are any of those names suppose to mean something to me?” he asked dumbfounded.

 

Karai frowned “I should have explained who they were but there's no time now, Mikey is counting on me to get back before sunset”

 

“Oh, obviously, my bad, I should have caught on quicker with your very concise and easy to follow explanation of where you have been for the past two days”

 

“I'm glad you understand”

 

Leo closed his eyes and Karai could hear him count to ten in his head “If you would just give us five minutes we could group up and head out together if you haven't noticed the farmhouse was recently attacked with anti human graffiti-”

 

“-that's why I have to show the frogs this phone book to prove that there are more humans than there are giant mutant frogs”

 

“Somehow every new detail you supply only makes your story more confusing” he said dryly “So would you wait just five-”

 

A fog horn blared from the woods.

 

“Fuck!” Karai grabbed Leo's wrist and practically dragged him towards the farmhouse “See this is what happens when people get caught up in the details”

 

“What!?”

 

Inside the farmhouse she held her back to the front door, still gripping Leo's wrist as the poor confused turtle tried to form another question.

 

“Is there a boat outside?” Casey came out of the basement with Donnie close behind. They paused for a moment when they saw Karai with a death grip on a phone book. “Hey Karai..”

 

“Oh sewer apples” Raph quickly closed the curtains he was looking out “That's a lot of frogs?”

 

“Frog-”

 

“HUMANS, RELEASE THE TURTLES FROM THEIR ENSLAVEMENT”

 

Leo very slowly reached past Karai and turned the dead bolt on the front door. While Donnie ran down into the basement.

 

“REPTILES, YOUR AMPHIBIOUS BROTHERS ARE HERE TO LIBERATE YOU!”

 

“What are we being liberated from?” Leo asked her in a whisper.

 

Donnie returned with a megaphone, he went over to the dining room and aimed it through the screen “UH, NO THANK YOU”

 

Raph scowled and they waited patiently for a response. Donnie drummed his fingers on the megaphone nervously as a chorus of croaking started up then quieted down.

 

“YOU WISH TO NOT BE FREED FROM THE TYRANNY OF MAN?”

 

They were all now in the dining room, the map on the table had writing and marks on it where they had searched for Mikey and Karai, she felt a little guilty at the site. “NO, NOT TODAY, WE'RE GOOD”

 

“No, not today, we're good?” Raph mocked “What're ya doing, declining a subscription?” Donnie ignored his remarks.

 

“If these are the frogs you are trying to save then you need to talk to them” Leo addressed her quietly. “You seem to have an endless amount of knowledge when it comes to this”

 

Karai shook her head as Donnie held out the megaphone to her. If she talked to Genghis right here he would know she was lying when she said they ran away from humans. “They'll know I betrayed them, I came back here because I need to get this phone book to Attila” she ignored the croaking outside and how outraged it sounded “They need to be convinced to relocate somewhere less densely pop-”

 

“BRING OUT THE HUMANS”

 

Everyone stilled, April and Casey paled a little bit.

 

Donnie stiffened and pointed the megaphone out the screen “THESE HUMANS ARE OUR FRIENDS”

 

“Maybe mention that you aren't slaves?” April offered quietly.

 

“WE ARE NOT SLAVES”

 

_Oh wait._

 

“WE ARE EQUAL WITH HUMANS”

 

“Actually that probably was a bad thing to say...” Karai tasted blood, the nasty result of chewing on the inside of her cheek.

 

“...because these are probably the same mutants who painted the side of the house with death to all humans...” Leo finished.

 

“...and I just told them we are equal to humans...” Donnie realized in horror “Also they have catapults”

 

“Are they using the catapults?”

 

“No, they're just showing them to us- of course they're going to use them Casey!”

 

“Excuse me for being distracted when human hating mutant frogs are outside!”

 

Casey and Donnie's argument was interrupted by a low crack and the sound of breaking glass as the first frog cannon ball broke through the front window.

 

“Ninjas, protect Casey and April” Leo shouted as he charge the first frog.

 

It quickly became extremely chaotic. The catapult shot off a few more times and Karai could only whip her tail around at so many targets. She was out of practice but fought her way to the front door with the phone book, if she could get to Genghis and show him the phone book he'd have no choice but to retreat. Raph shouted to ask her where she was going but she slithered forward. Genghis’s soldier met her and surrounded her before she was even close to him, they pointed spears at her and closed in tight waiting for his orders.

 

“Never should a frog be so naive as to trust the word of a snake” he sneered.

 

“There are more humans than just the ones in the woods” she held the phone book out “This book has the name of every human in just this local upstate New York area” the spear holders looked at the book and Genghis snatched the book out of her hand and threw it to the side.

 

He laughed “Do you think I am simple?”

 

His soldiers laughed awkwardly at her as well, following their leader's example.

 

“Of course there are more humans than frogs!”

 

“Then why are you attacking humans?” In the background she heard the grunts and panicked shouts of a losing battle. The turtles were out numbered, there were twenty frog soldier here. Even it six were currently dealing with her it wasn't much of an advantage.

 

Genghis cocked his head “Because we are big now, and we have power. Rasputin never counted the humans in the forest, that was a lie for the masses, to keep the females and adolescence comfortable while we sought that which is rightfully ours”

 

April screamed in the background and Karai fought the urge to turn and look.

 

“Napoleon isn't a soldier, he's a runt, a mistake, his only saving grace is he's Attila's only surviving son. Attila is our king but he is fool to think we will ever live is seclusion undisturbed by that of man!”

 

She heard the distinct clatter of a sword falling to the floor.

 

“It's not about survival, it's about revenge and showing the humans we will not be forgotten!” The soldier croaked in agreement “Take her to Home Tree, she's a human at heart and will inevitably cause us more grief if we permit her to run free”

 

Karai couldn't think fast enough before two frogs had her firmly by the upper arms, she twisted around at the same time as April was carried kicking and screaming out of the house. She jerked herself backwards against the frogs, twisting her tail in an attempt to back-up, reverse, escape. They were heavy though, she felt her jacket sleeve slip but it wasn't enough to get free. Her tail whipped around and knocked the frogs feet from under them but it only sent her to ground with them. They pinned her there and another frog landed on her back as she squirmed.

 

Casey was thrown out a window, from the first floor but he doesn't get up. She can't take a full breath, everything was falling apart. The frog sitting on her back put his full weight into it, her labored shallows breaths made the grass flick at her noise and mouth until she passed out.

 

* * *

 May 16th, 2014 | 8:05 pm

* * *

She was swaying.

 

Gently.

 

Gently swaying.

 

“Karai”

 

_Nope, not home right now, I'm swaying._

 

Back and forth.

 

To and fro.

 

“Karai come on!”

 

Her swaying was being disturbed.

 

She groaned. “Shut up Casey”

 

_Casey._

 

She opened her eyes and bolted up stopping just short of hitting her head on the top of her...cage?

 

“Finally!” Casey rasped in a hoarse whisper. He was in a cage as well, taking a survey of her surroundings she found everyone in cages suspended high in the air.

 

Supressing a groan she steadied herself by holding onto the wooden bars and craned her neck to see around April's cage to where Mikey was. “What happened?”

 

Shrugging and not looking at her he mumbled “Something about us being traitors and they're gearing up to fight all humans”

 

“How long has it been since we got here?”

 

They aggressively whispered back and forth. April and Casey were able to fill her in on how the fighting inside the house devolved. The frogs had pure blunt force on their sides, Casey relented that every hit he landed almost bounced off them like rubber. Mikey tried to defend their actions once they arrived at the tree resulting in him also being deemed a traitor.

 

Karai filled them all in on how Genghis did not take kindly to her phone book explanation and was actively leading his clan to its death.

 

Below them the frogs gathered in a large group, all were adults and wearing various amount of human clothing. A concerning number of them wore nothing but bikini tops. She felt the bars of her cage vibrate slightly and looked up.

 

Before she could say anything Donnie was on top of April's cage, grasping the rope, he didn't make a sound when he landed but the cage was upset by his weight causing her to fall over from the position she was sat in. In another single movement he jumped off the cage and landed on it again by placing his feet through the bars for footing and holding onto the door. Raph at the same moment was now on top of Mikey's cage. And judging by the jut in her own cage's swaying she didn't need to look up again to know Leo was on top of hers.

 

The rescue was underfoot.

 

Spinning slowly, Donnie cut the rope binding that kept her door shut. The speech below did not stutter once. When April was free she held on with white knuckles to Donnie's back as he made the ascent back up the rope onto the branch while Leo and Raph both jumped onto the side of their respective cages.

 

Face to face with Leo, only the bars separating them she tried to think of something to say or explain but his eyes were focused on something past her and his head was cocked as though he was listening intently to something.

 

Then Karai heard it too, they both turned their heads in time to see Raph mouth the words “oh fuck” as the rope holding up Mikey's cage snapped and sent them both falling.

 

“Oh for fuck's sake” Casey groaned.

 

The speech below halted with the crash and Leo quickly unlatched the door of her cage. He handed her the small blade he used, jerked his head towards Casey, grimaced and then let go of the cage allowing himself to free fall to the main platform.

 

Without words she grabbed onto the neighboring cage and freed Casey, if freedom was being still suspended high in the air and with no way down. Karai left Casey to figure that out for himself. April and Donnie were already gone, Raph and Mikey had the wind knocked out of them but were getting up. Casey was hanging from the mouth of his cage swinging his legs until he was swinging high enough to jump over to a parallel branch.

 

Most of the action seemed centered on Raph and Mikey, Leo was already on the main platform. In the trees she found Donnie and April facing their own batch of enemies among the branches. When she had legs, the thought of a fight in the trees was a little less daunting. Karai had impressive footwork, if was in the name of her clan after all. A muscular snake body could definitely stay in or on a tree without much thought, the speed at which she could navigate however...

 

It was for this reason she attacked three frogs at once using her body as a projectile and then the frogs bodies as padding for her landing. Or maybe it just worked out that way and she was too embarrassed to admit she had a moment of panic. On the main platform of the home tree things were worse than she thought. Karai could tell the turtles were doing their best to avoid “civilian” casualties. Discerning the charge of a frog soldier from the frantic scrambling of a frog running for their life, but between the amount of beings running around and the clutter if was difficult.

 

She managed to snag a spear off the floor, and used it like a poorly made Bo Staff. It wasn't balanced and it wasn't thick enough but the little blade Leo gave her was not going to cut it. It seemed the plan was to fight out of the home tree, since the original plan of rescuing them silently had failed. She was getting closer to Leo position when Napoleon's voice cut through the chaos.

 

“There is a fire! We have to evacuate!”

 

The far side of the tree was on fire, right where the thrones were. Karai remembered candles all around Rasputin's throne.

 

“Listen to me!” Napoleon pleaded “If we keep fighting there will be nothing to fight for, Idiots!”

 

Fire streaked across the ground, in the chaos gasoline stores had been toppled over. There were no wires running up to the tree, everything was powered by generators. Gas guzzling generators.

 

_Shit._

 

Many of the non combative frogs were already jumping off the tree and escaping only a few extremely loyal soldier were still engaging in active combat. So of course Genghis and a few of his loyal soldier were facing off against Leo, Raph and Mikey. He was surprisingly holding up pretty well. Leo was pulling the fight away from Raph and Mikey. It seemed Mikey may have injured his foot, with a repeated curt hand motion he signaled for them to retreat. They were reluctant, but Raph dragged Mikey to the edge of the platform they used their grappling hooks to make their exit.

 

She joined Leo in his fight with Genghis. Two of his soldier were still by his side, and now the fight was two versus three and their playground was turning to ash beneath them. Leo and Karai barely acknowledge each other both falling into form. Leo was back to favoring his right leg over his left, luckily Genghis was too blind with rage to notice. When push came to shove Karai swatted one soldier over the edge of the platform and Leo sliced the second soldier badly enough he retreated but Genghis persisted.

 

“You fool!” He roared over the fire “You could have been one of us! You could have gone down in history”

 

“Yeah, you are really over estimating how special you are, you won't even make the five o'clock news hour” Leo shot back.

 

Genghis was heaving in large gasps of air, the fight and lack of breathable air up here was getting to him “I'll have your heads for this! I will not rest until all humans are dead!”

 

“You and what army?” Leo used a katana to point to the abandoned platform “All I see is a sad man who doesn't know when to cut his losses. Had you stayed here in the middle of the woods, living within your means, not attacking those campsites you wouldn't be in this!”

 

“Silence! I will not be spoken to by an inferior with such dis-”

 

“But I'm not your inferior Genghis, I'm you, I'm a mutant with dreams and people to protect and I'm telling you that this path you are on only leads to your death and-”

 

A branch from the canopy above snapped and fell on the seething frog, burning embers sprayed out at both of them.

 

Karai brushed of the burning ash “Holy fucking shit” she coughed out, her eyes were watering with the irritation from the smoke but she still caught the haunting glimpse of Genghis's crushed body protruding from the burning branch.

 

“We have to go _now_ ” Leo grabbed her by the forearm and steered her blindly through the cluttered platform. The tree and platform were giving off ominous groans, the structural stability was gone. It shouldn't have come as to much of a surprise when she realized Leo was charging them both off the edge of the platform with no grappling hook in hand (which she now realized was why Mikey had one earlier, it was Leo's) “this is going to suck”

 

She wasn't able to say anything witty before they were free falling fifteen feet through the air and then another ten with only the top of a nearby tree breaking their momentum. Using a sharp shrubbery as a landing platform did suck. She was riddled with scrapes and bruises and Leo who was a little bit further down the tree didn't look any better. The deafening sound of the tree's platform crashing down to the earth erupted below them.

 

It took them both longer than they would have liked, but they both made it down the tree alive and with countless cuts between them. They were forced to slide down the trunk of the tree, Leo landed awkwardly and sucked air between his teeth while holding his right knee.

 

"Are you okay" her hand was on his shoulder but her eyes were on the burning pile of stolen camp supplies and spotty architecture not more than thirty feet away.

 

"Yeah, yeah"

 

"Can you walk?"

 

Leo got us with her help and she wordlessly swung his right arm over her shoulder and but her left arm around his back. They could walk like this, he could put a little weight on his right. "There's a meeting spot, not far from here"

 

Karai nodded and let Leo steer them in the right direction "Did Casey and Ap-"

 

"Donnie got them both" he interrupted "Once the fire started it was over, helicopters and planes along with fire watch will be closing in and we need to be far from the scene"

 

* * *

 May 16th, 2014 | 10:05 pm

* * *

“I'm never going to find out what happened here am I?” Leo had his arm around her shoulder, still using her a little bit for balance as he tried not to put weight on his leg.

 

“No” she agreed, her arm was around the back of his shell. They found the others right where Leo said they would be. It was near part of the drying creek and near the road where the party wagon was not so discreetly parked. “You would have had to have been there”

 

“Never do that again, ya hear me?” Raph grunted, his arms firmly around Mikey.

 

“Okay. Raph. Loosen. Hug” Mikey gasped “Cracking. My. Shell”

 

Raph hugged him tighter “S'not a hug”

 

“Should we help him?” Karai asked.

 

Leo shook his head “No... but maybe we should help April”

 

Not far from the strangle hug taking place between Raph and Mikey, April was in her own tight hug. However she, unlike Mikey, didn't have the luxury of her feet being on the ground. Leo couldn't hear from where he stood but Karai could. While the hug looked tight and uncomfortable, April's pained expression seemed to stem from having to repeatedly tell him she was mostly unharmed.

 

“No, but seeing that makes me glad you're so short”

 

Leo stood up a little straighter “I'm five foot six, you know”

 

“Like I said, I'm glad you're short” she repeated “Boys closer to your own height are easier to kiss”

 

He wiped the indignant expression off his face in a heartbeat “Oh”

 

“Next time anyone runs away, can it be to like I don't know, a water park, or a hockey rink” Casey moaned as he made futile attempts at dusting off his pants “not giant mutant frogs that turn your friends into crazy forest people”

 

Karai reached up self conscious and touched her hair, yeah there were some twigs and leaves. She probably did look like a crazy forest person. 

 

"Alright, now that everyone is accounted for and mostly in one piece, let's get back to the farmhouse" Leo announced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. Training to be an industrial electrician right now and it's shocking (ha kill me) how much work I had to do each unit.
> 
> Updates are sadly going to be very sporadic, but on a brighter note this fanfic is now halfway done. :)


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1) Karai finally gets Leo in bed with her.  
> 2) The above statement is technically correct, and extremely misleading all at once. Get your mind out of the gutter >:[

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder:  
> Bold words = Spoken Japanese

* * *

 May 16th, 2014 | 11:30 pm

* * *

 It wasn’t a long trip back home. Donnie drove (it was dark out anyways and he religiously followed the speed limit) while April took shotgun. That left five people cramming themselves into the back of the party wagon. Mikey was telling the whole story in excruciating detail, currently after ten minutes he was not even past the ice cream truck.

 

This was the moment Karai realized she’d accidentally placed the events of the past couple days into her permanent memory and there was nothing she could do to fix that. On her death bed she would see Napoleon’s blank expression float into view. _Next opportunity I have to eat out, I’m eating fucking frog legs._

 

Raph and Casey were listening to him, nodding and making faces when appropriate but Leo stared at the floor one hand on his bad knee and the other propping his head up.

 

“Are you good?” she whispered under Mikey’s story and thoughts of deep fried frog legs.

 

Leo looked up for a moment before returning his blue eyes to the floor “Yeah, once everyone is home” he mumbled.

 

The farmhouse itself was a mess, broken windows and graffiti marred the outside and Karai could imagine how badly the furniture inside must have held up during the attack.

 

“Alright, who wants to get wasted with me?” Casey asked as they spilled out of the van.

 

“Count me in” Raph followed Casey into the house presumably to where ever they were keeping their alcohol. Well, hiding alcohol since Leo on more than one occasion had found Raph’s stash and dumped it down the drain.

 

Leo opened his mouth ready to express disappointment, one shaky hand held up at the two of them but Donnie had other ideas “Leave them Leo. Neither of them are littered in multiple scrapes, or not so subtly nursing their leg” he surveyed them all “So all three of you, upstairs bathroom. Now”

 

“Can I go get wasted with Casey and Raph instead?” Karai asked only half joking.

 

“Funny. Upstairs. Bathroom. Now” Donnie repeated and this time they did.

 

“How’re we going to all fit in the bathroom upstairs D?”

 

“You’re right Mikey” they stopped at the base of the stairs “Karai you go into the bathroom down here, April will help you with all your cuts”

 

Mikey groaned “Lucky, April is the nice nurse”

 

Karai wasn’t paying attention to that remark, she watched Leo walk up the staircase on shaky legs and a slightly paler skin tone. _Probably fatigue._

 

* * *

May 17th, 2014 | 12:45 am

* * *

New shirt, brushed hair, brushed teeth. _I could smell my own breath._ Removed all the gunk from under her fingernails. She was feeling three times better since getting back. Leo was still being tended to by Donnie so she was able to feed Mr. Tubbs, clean his water bowl and pick out the soiled spots in the tank before Leo wandered in tired and still shaking slightly.

 

Neither of them really spoke a word until she was tucked under the bed, and he was laying down on top of the bed.

 

They shared a curt goodnight and she tried not to think too hard about it, she had expected him to ask a thousand fucking questions. Or at least scold her for running off after Mikey.

 

Instead he was giving her the cold shoulder.

 

* * *

May 17th, 2014 | 2:52 am

* * *

The bed creaked violently, the doorknob rattled seconds later. The door itself was opened with so much force a gust of air came in the room and blew the bed skirt into her face.

 

Plastic smacked porcelain as someone hastily raised the toilet lid and hurled their guts out.

 

She crawled out of sleep and slithered to the door frame of the bathroom. He was sitting on his knees in front of the toilet holding on to the edge of the bowl, a sheen layer of sweat on his face.

 

“You want me to grab Donnie?” Donnie was the go to for medical things, and a stomach bug was ...medical. She waited for him to respond. He scrunched his eyes closed and put his head back into the bowl. A retching noise echoed back but nothing splashed the water.

 

He brought his head back up and shook it “No, not sick”.

 

“Just puking for the fun of it?” Karai entered the too small bathroom and looked around while Leo got the haunted look of someone who was desperately trying not to throw-up but it was a losing battle.

 

“Yep” he said quickly before dry heaving again.

 

Karai found a clean wash cloth and put that in the sink and ran some cold water over it while Leo with a shaky sweat coated hand gave the toilet a courtesy flush. “Here” she wrung it out so it was just damp, handing it to him before she slithered back a little. Partly to give him space but mostly because the bathroom smelled sweetly of bile.

 

He wiped off his face with one hand and kept the other on the toilet bowl “Sorry I woke you up”.

 

Karai shrugged in response before realizing he was still looking in the toilet and probably chanting some variation of ‘don’t puke don’t puke oh god please don’t puke’. “So if you aren’t sick...what’s going on?”

 

Leo, without looking away from the toilet, reached up to the sink next to the toilet and put the balled up wash cloth in it. “I didn’t mean to kill him”

 

_Kill who?_

 

“I just wanted him to give up, or make him-” Leo stopped abruptly and forced himself to swallow instead of puke.

 

“Wait, you mean Genghis?” she asked in disbelief “The branch killed him Leo, not you”

 

“I literally told him he was going to die and then-”

 

“A branch from the tree, the tree that was on fire, fell on him” her deadpan cut him off.

 

Leo didn’t say anything.

 

“Hell, a few moment sooner and it would have been one of us directly under that bran-”

 

She was interrupted by Leo suddenly dry heaving again, this time a little bile came up and Karai almost smacked herself in the face for her own stupidity.

 

“Everyone is okay now though” she slithered closer and grabbed the washcloth unballing it and rinsing it out “Donnie and April are literally spooning in the bedroom down the hall” she handed the clean wash cloth back to Leo who looked at her with skepticism.

 

“Spooning?” his scratchy voice asked with disbelief.

 

“Yep, Donnie is the small spoon tonight too, I only know because I couldn’t fall asleep so I listened in on them like an asshole instead” she washed her hands in the sink before turning the water off “And don’t ask how that works with his shell, or with the fact that he’s like eight feet tall”

 

“He’s not ei-”

 

“Mikey is asleep at the kitchen table, he ate all the leftovers while telling his cat, Raph and Casey the rest of our adventure” Leo looked a little less pale and nauseated “Oh and Raph and Casey are both wasted but safely asleep in the living room”

 

Leo frowned “More like passed out”

 

“Eh, tomato tomato” she shrugged.

 

“Your suppose to pronounce one diff-”

 

“Point is Leo, everyone is okay” she reached out with her right hand and put it on his left shoulder with all the confidence she wish she had the last time “You did okay... you were fine until we got in the van"

 

"That's adrenaline. I was happy we were all alive...I didn't have time to think about the other-" he shuddered “The more I think about it the more I keep replacing Genghis’ squashed body with...”

 

She winced “With one of your brothers”

 

“Or April, or Casey...or you” he added hesitantly “And I know that’s stupid, and I shouldn’t obsess over it but...”

 

“What if” Karai finished. Leo nodded and looked back at the toilet like he was going to hurl again. “And the more you keep thinking about the worst case scenarios, the sicker you are making yourself” she didn’t phrase it as a question, she was working through this out loud and Leo’s lack of denial confirmed it. “So what do you do to make it stop?”

 

Leo shrugged and Karai removed her hand “Talk to Sensei, since I guess obsessing over losing your team isn’t uncommon... I thought I was over this, after the fungus mutant, that I wouldn’t have such an issue with overthinking things”

 

“I hate to break this to you but as long as you have a family, you’re always going to be scared of losing them”

 

“I know”

 

Leo flushed the toilet and stood up on his knees then slowly got to his feet “What do you do when you can’t talk to your Dad?”

 

She slithered backwards into the hallway so he had room to use the sink “Something that I am not allowed to do anymore” he said quietly. “Something that admittedly I really shouldn’t ever think about wanting to do, but I am”

 

He walked out of the bathroom and she moved to the side “Are you going to bed now?”

 

“Yeah, but I’m probably not sleeping” he laid on top of the covers on his back. He looked exhausted but held the body language of someone who was high strung. She doubted that before he had gotten up to run into the bathroom he was ever asleep to begin with.

 

“Scoot” she waved her hands at him.

 

“What?”

 

“Make room, scoot over, take a side and so on” she clarified and Leo did, although confused. Karai managed to get herself on the bed, on her back (which wasn’t fucking comfortable), next to Leo, with the remainder of her tail folded over the end of the bed. From above she realized she must look like the letter L wearing a t-shirt. Leo was on her left.

 

After she was done readjusting he spoke “I don’t think this bed was made for two people”

 

“You can get closer to the middle, I don’t bite”

 

He didn’t move at first, mauling it over for what Karai thought was a really long time. He did come a little closer, their shoulders were touching. “What’re you doing exactly...?”

 

She found his right hand with her left and held it “Laying in the world’s smallest bed with my friend, what do you think I'm doing?”

 

“Uh, nope that’s what I was thinking as well” he sputtered “I wasn’t trying to imply, or uh, are you holding my hand?”

 

“If you’re worried about getting me pregnant I can put a glove on”

 

She could feel the pillow they were sharing move as Leo leaned his head back and sighed “Okay, just because I don't talk about sex, doesn’t mean I don’t know what sex is”

 

“You saw me in my bra once and had to be rescued” she said slowly twisting her face into a smile.

 

“Okay again, that’s manners” he argued “Unlike Casey I know to avert my eyes when a lady is undressing”

 

“You practically covered your face, and you dropped your crutches”

 

“Let’s not get caught up on the details” he cut in “I have manners, and this is off topic anyways. A guy can be polite and...uh-”

 

“-have a sex life?” she finished for him.

 

“Yes” he finished slowly.

 

“Your voice isn’t dripping with confidence Blue” she sighed at the ceiling “You’re a virgin, what sex life do you have?”

 

Leo stayed silent for a little longer before answering. She started to regret running her mouth on the last part, and for the first time wondered if it wasn’t the best topic to bring up. “Of course I’m a virgin, there aren’t exactly a lot of other options” he said quietly “Do you think April and Donnie can hear us we’ve been talking kind of loud and they’re only one door down”

 

“Oh shell they’re becoming self aware” Karai heard Donnie whisper.

 

Karai shook her head casually back and forth on the pillow, her hair brushing the side of his cheek “No they’re both asleep, I have really good hearing so if they were listening in and whispering about it I would know. But they wouldn’t do that, since they both know how good I am at holding grudges”

 

“It was April’s i-” Donnie’s whisper was cut off and audibly noise of rough housing could be heard next door.

 

“Ah so they can hear us?” Leo mused. “What were we talking about again?”

 

“You, and your knowledge of sex”

 

“Right” Leo said brightly not bothering to whisper “As you know, I basically wrote the book” he said casually and straight faced right to the ceiling.

 

Karai tightened her lips into a line of doubt, even it Leo couldn’t see her face he’d hear it in her voice “Sure, I bet you’re a sex expert, so explain for me what sex is since you apparently know all about it”

 

Leo was silent for a moment before clearing his throat and adopting a Boston accent “When two specimens love ea' other, a va'inal cavity will have in'ernal reproduction and bam” he thrusts his left hand into the air at the ceiling “babies”

 

“I’m absolutely speechless” she said quietly “And here I thought you were so pure” in the neighboring room she could hear April and Donnie stifling laughter.

 

Leo shrugged his shoulders “You asked”

 

“I did not ask for you to give me your best Raph impression” she said dumbfounded to the ceiling “I wish I had a recording...actually, if the two people who are definitely not eavesdropping right now had a recording of Leo’s Bad Boston Accent, a copy in my hands would help me get over my grudge that I may or may not be holding”

 

“I don’t think I want to continue holding hands with you if you are going to be like this” Leo said shortly, but he didn’t let go of her hand.

 

Karai laughed “Oh Blue, we can stop calling it that, after all this conversation is just between you and I”

 

Leo sputtered a few syllables and she turned her head to look at him.

 

“Holy shit you’re blushing!” she laughed.

 

“I’m not blushing, turtles don’t blush!” he spat out using his free left hand to rub his face. “And nobody better be recording this...you’d show Raph” he said in horror. “Also hand holding is hand holding and not anything else”

 

“That’s why I wish I had a recording” she said nodding at the idea of Raph hearing Leo’s impression “Yeah, also you said ‘vaginal’ and didn’t start burning, I’m shocked”

 

Leo laughed quietly “I know a lot of bad words”

 

“Is that your pick-up line? You already have me in your bed Leo, the hard part is over”

 

He groaned annoyed.

 

“Wait, technechally, the hard part is coming up”

 

“Please tell me that was a poor attempt at a Casey Jones line” Leo deadpanned.

 

Karai was still thoroughly enjoying his exaggerated discomfort “Too on the nose? He’s a conundrum”  _He’s wearing a mask, the real Casey hides behind sex jokes and alcohol._ It was a sad little theory Karai carefully tucked away along with _Mikey had a bad experience on the 'surface' as a kid_ , and a few _others._

 

“But seriously what are we doing right now” he asked again with a little more confidence breaking the impromptu silence.

 

“Hopefully distracting you from yourself” she replied turning her head to her left so she was looking at the side of Leo’s face. “Is it working?”

 

“Yeah” he said without hesitation and she turned her head to look back at the ceiling. “Thanks, Karai”

 

* * *

 May 17th, 2014 | 1:00 pm

* * *

When she cracked her eyes open again, not entirely remembering when she closed them for the last time before falling asleep, she was staring directly at the side of Leo’s head. The room was flooded with sunlight she noted hazily, her arm, her right arm was draped over him and she was on her side pressed against the right of him.

 

Quickly she propped herself up on her left elbow and awkwardly removed her arm. Leo was asleep but this action woke him up, and they both laid there with a silent moment of eye contact when three quick hard knocks saved them.

 

“Breakfast in ten, guys” April called through the door. Karai dumped herself onto the floor while Leo swung his legs over the opposite edge of the bed, her cheeks felt warm so she made a point of keeping her face away from Leo while she grabbed her clothes and claimed the hallway bathroom.

 

In the privacy of the bathroom two things occurred to her at once. It was late, maybe it wasn’t even morning anymore. Also, no one in this house had ever knocked before entering any room. Everyone would just barge in to each other’s sleeping quarters without warning. It might be a dangerous game to play with five teenage boys in the house, but Karai had learned early on the only real privacy was in the bathroom.

 

Even that privacy wasn’t entirely sacred, since the turtles themselves were nearly naked all the time it wasn’t odd for one of them to be showering while the other was brushing their teeth.

 

With a fresh shirt, a plain black long sleeve crew neck, she tossed her fingers through her hair until it looked at least presentable. Her hair was longer now, brushing the top of her shoulders and getting into her face more often. April’s hair was longer too but the red head seemed to manage fine with hair ties and bobby pins. Her thoughts circled back to April. Who knocked on the door to wake them up, except Karai was awake a few second before, and she didn’t remember either her or Leo clicking the door shut when they went back to bed.

 

 _Back to bed together_ Karai reminded herself. Even if it was just hand holding.

 

Depositing her pajama top back with her things she slithered down the stairs into the main living room and dining room. It was a very sudden reminder of just how destroyed the lower half of the farmhouse was.

 

Raph and Casey sat at the still standing dining room table, both had mugs of coffee and a tall glass of water (completely untouched) in front of them. Definitely not something either of the boys would have grabbed. Everyone else was in the kitchen, gathering near the stove with bowls in hand ready to dish up their own oatmeal. April was helping herself as Mikey limped out with two bowls and placed them in front of Casey and Raph who merely blinked in response. Leo and Donnie lingered by the fridge having a hushed conversation.

 

“April says there’s a city nearby that might but...”

 

“Money?”

 

“I can get money Leo” Donnie assured hesitantly.

 

“Legally?”

 

Leo looked up at Donnie as the taller turtle grimaced “Technically not, but it’s for the most part a victim-less crime”

 

Leo adjusted his crutch and hummed “Okay, talk to me after breakfast”

 

He limped over to the stove and dished up his own bowl of oatmeal and Donnie followed, Karai grabbed her own bowl from the cupboard and her and Mikey were at the stove together. He had a crutch now but wasn't really using it as much as he was just dragging it around.

 

“Okay I put a lot of thought into it and it’s either Pan’s Labyrinth or the second Wizard of Oz movie” Mikey said as Karai handed him the oatmeal ladle after she was finished with it.

 

She watched him dish up his own bowl while her mind caught up to their game. “Oh” she said and they walked into the dining room together “I haven’t seen either of them”

 

“I guess I was suppose to tell you yesterday though huh?” He sat at his usual spot next to her, and she sat down next to Leo.

 

“Tell who what?” Leo asked.

 

Raph shushed him “’Eo, m’head, ush”

 

“Drink your water” Donnie said without looking up from his breakfast.

 

“You, you drink your water” Casey mumbled. “Gap ...Teeth”

 

Donnie opened his mouth to say something but then closed it. He was choosing his battles and getting into a name calling contest with a hungover Casey Jones just wasn’t worth it. April rolled her eyes at the comment and caught a moment of eye contact with Karai before instantly breaking it and looking away.

 

_Okay…_

 

“What time is it?” Leo asked craning his neck to see the cable box in the living room “It’s one in the afternoon!?” he exclaimed.

 

“I think we all needed the rest, all things considered” April assured.

 

Leo stifled a yawn “Maybe, but it does not feel like I slept nearly thirteen hours”

 

“It was an eventful night” Karai added watching Donnie and April shift under her stare.

 

Mikey got up suddenly “I wonder if we’ll be on the news!” he skidded into the living room again forgetting his crutch and turned on the television and immediately started flipping through the channels. “That fire was huge, I hope The Punk Frogs all escaped”

 

“The what frogs?” Raph asked slowly.

 

“I’m surprised you even remember that” Leo muttered under his breath, out of the reach of Raph’s hearing.

 

Donnie scraped his bowl clean “I’ll be in the ship, Leo. Come down and we can talk about the...” he waved his hand in a circle “okay?”

 

“Thanks, D” Leo said with a mouthful of oatmeal covered with one hand.

 

April followed suit and took her empty bowl to the kitchen avoiding Karai’s eyes. Karai stirred her untouched oatmeal before turning to talk to Mikey in the living room “I used to play the piano, I’m not sure how good I would be at it now though”

 

“Oh cool, ever do any competitions?” he asked with genuine interest, completely ignoring the TV.

 

Karai looked past him at the wall for a few seconds before looking back at her oatmeal “No, not really, nothing official. Private lessons and mostly private performances”

 

“Can I think about mine for a bit?”

 

“Sure” she took a bite of oatmeal knowing today she would sneak out and fine something more meaty, and “puts up a fight before allowing her to eat it” in the woods.

 

Leo started to say something but the first syllable died on his tongue as Raph picked up his water glass in one sudden motion and chugged the whole thing. Leo and Karai watched as he slammed the glass down closed his eye and held his breath.

 

“I think Donnie said you were suppose to sip it” Leo said watching Raph clinically.

 

“Yep” Raph said weakly before suddenly getting up and running towards the bathroom on the main level. He tripped over Mikey and fell stomach first on the living room floor and vomited.

 

“Raph! Not cool man how’re we gonna sweep all this dirt and wood up now” Mikey complained.

 

Leo sighed. “I’m gonna go see Donnie” he said as somewhere in the background Raph could be heard crawling on his hands and knees to the bathroom.

 

Karai watched him hobble off into the kitchen with his bowl in hand, she noticed that he really wasn’t putting weight on his leg. She stared at her oatmeal until Mikey gasped and turned up the volume on the TV.

 

“Uhg it keeps going in and out!” he whined smacking the TV gently “Come on!”

 

“The fire in… wilderness has baffled the local Fire Marshal. Officials report… to campsite robberies...clean up operations...Reports of reckless driving on...eye witnesses say giant frogs are to blame...could this all be related to the gas leak in New York City?”

 

Mikey groaned as it faded to pure static soon after. “Now I have more questions and less answers” he yelled.

 

Casey groaned his head was on the table he was surrounded by an untouched mug of coffee, an untouched glass of water and an untouched bowl of oatmeal. In the same neighborhood Raph’s abandoned spot looked the same except for the empty glass of water.

 

With that she slithered into the kitchen, emptied her partially eaten bowl of oatmeal in the trash and pour herself a mug of room temperature coffee. She carefully slithered around Raph’s mess and upstairs. As she entered her room April stormed out of the bathroom startling her. She closed the door “Tell. Me. Everything” she said in a hushed whisper.

 

Karai looked wide eyed at April. “What?”

 

“You. Leo. In bed. Together” she threw her hands out frantically not able to really find the words. “Talk. Now”

 

“You already know everything there is to know, you were listening to us talk through the wall” a little bitterness slipped through.

 

April twisted her mouth “You were talking a full volume, and toilet bowls make a great amplifier. Leo’s puking woke us both up”

 

Karai curled the tip of her tail in frustrated with April “Fine, still a dick move”

 

“I can agree to that” she said shrugging. April looked around the bedroom from where she stood while Karai turned back to gathering a few supplies “Everyone is kind of doing their own thing today” April cut in after a moment “You want to hang out later?”

 

She took a moment to examine her hunting knife before turning around to look at April. The direct sunlight wasn’t doing her any favors, the younger girl looked horribly tired despite her voice being energetic. It was only two days ago that April killed a clone of her own mother. She hadn’t been woken up by her and Leo’s pillow talk, April hadn’t been asleep in the first place. “What’s everyone doing?” she settled on asking. Sinking back into gathering what information she could.

 

“Well Donnie and Leo are doing something on the computer to get money, Raph and Casey are hungover, so that kind of leaves you, me and Mikey in the wind” she said hesitantly. “So girl’s night?”

 

Karai sheathed the knife “So what a girl’s night….but with Mikey?”

 

“He’s really good at painting nails” April assured “So tonight, girl’s night with Mikey?” she asked again.

 

April wanted to make amends with Mikey, Karai knew that because as far as she knew since their return April hadn’t really talked to him. The relationship was civil, but still strained. “On one condition O’Neil” Karai said as she slithered past April towards the door “Make sure there’s black nail polish, blood red would be an acceptable back up”

 

“Okay!” April called after her, relief in her voice.

 

Karai glanced down at her unpainted nails. “Maybe blood red would be better, I am getting too soft”

 

* * *

May 17th, 2014 | 3:38 pm

* * *

Starving wasn’t the right word. So hungry she felt close to being sick was what she entered the woods with, and after what had to be close to three hours she finally found something, in broad daylight, that would make a great first meal.

 

The woods were once again safe.

 

Except for deer and rabbits, or anything a mutant snake human hybrid might decide to put on the menu.

 

Alone, and not entirely sure exactly where she was in relation to the farmhouse she started carving into the buck she’d strangled to death. That was always satisfying Karai felt, and she knew it was the disgusting snake in her that liked doing that so much.

 

Even as a full human, she didn’t enjoy killing anyone. Not like this.

 

The memory of her mutation reared its head up, and Karai stared it down with dead eyes. _The past can’t hurt you._

 

_Except when it does._

 

This particular rabbit hole of thoughts wasn’t new. It started the same way. She would do something that was a result of her now being a mutant. The realization that she wouldn’t be like this if she wasn’t a mutant stung… but it passed… before… before she knew what led up to her mutation.

 

Viciously she sunk her knife into the chest of her buck.

 

The Shredder was going to die, and if she had it her way he would die by her blade being sunk directly into his chest. She would kill him and burn the body, just like he killed her mom and left her body to burn. No recognizable corpse, no honorable burial. He wasn’t worth the dirt under her nails.

 

That was the outward reason, the reason on the surface, her default response if anyone questioned why she was so bent on killing him. Why she needed to kill him.

 

It laced her with guilt because for how little she knew about her mother, most of what she knew was from her real father, a single conversation over tea. She knew her mother would not want this path for her. A path fueled by revenge and filled with rage.

 

Not the rage that screamed its lungs out, or broke its fists beating the walls of its own cage. Rage that left her empty and dead inside. Rage that she purposely, and meticulously pushed down, storing the toxic emotion for the moment she could kill him.

 

She would kill him for Tang Shen.

 

Karai swallowed the sudden anger with a strip of meat. Karai wondered what Tang Shen would make of her, as she sat here eating raw meat, half a monster. Would she be horrified by Karai’s appearance, disappointed in her quest to kill The Shredder? At some point Tang Shen loved him, she might have even loved him right up until he killed her.

 

That was a sick thought.

 

Or would she be proud. Maybe Tang Shen wasn’t as pure as he photos made her out to be. For years The Shredder did horrible things to her daughter. Rape and molestation under the convenient guise of teaching her how to be a kunoichi, how to seduce men-

 

She laughed, she laughed so hard the sobbed. She slumped forward and buried her head into the neck of her buck. It’s soft hide sticking to her bloody mouth and wet cheeks. The corpse was still warm and it was a small comfort. It almost felt like she was being hugged while sobbing her eyes out, screaming into the neck of the animal until her throat hurt and went raw.

 

Not that any of this mattered, _the past can’t hurt you._

 

_Unless you let it._

 

* * *

 May 17th, 2014 | 7:40 pm

* * *

If April had looked bad before, she looked worse now. Dark circles under her eyes, shallow breathing. All the signs of someone not getting enough sleep. Their weird girl's night was awkward and clumsy. Mikey and April walked on egg shells around each other and the conversation only went as deep as recognizing what song was playing on the radio. So far Mikey had correctly guessed every title and author correctly.

 

She was numb, hollow from the woods. She stared at her fingers soaking in a shallow bowl of warm water. She saw herself picking up the bowl and throwing it at the wall and then screaming her throat out. It was a tiny fantasy. She wouldn't actually do it, but she would really rather be anywhere else right in this moment. It was that lack of any feeling that let her break the formal atmosphere. “What happened, in the barn, with that monster April?”.

 

It would have been a good time for a record scratch, the way both April and Mikey's heads snapped towards her in slow motion. She'd done it now she realized, not caring. She didn't feel like playing dumb for the next few hours.

 

“Karai!” Mikey scolded her in a strained voice.

 

April stayed silent but looked at Mikey coming to her defense. If they made an enemy out of her they would go back to being friends, she wasn't feeling too invested in saving face. It was time to be rude. Get answers. “We were absorbed by a Kraang experiment. Then something happened and we were okay” it came out monotone, and depressed. She mustered up the actor inside her “I think I have the right to ask” she added looking into Mikey's eyes with a false emotion.

 

“I...” April's guilt riddled voice hit her and bounced right off, she continued to stare into Mikey's eyes. He was mad for April. _Good. Defend her, I'm being a jerk._

 

He scowled “Still! It’s-”

 

“No, Mikey, I need to tell you what happened. Everyone who wants to know, should know but first...” she shifted, drawing her legs closer to herself. They were both sitting on the queen sized bed in the master bedroom, Karai was on the floor using the bed more like a table, she felt more comfortable that way. It also gave everyone enough space to have a bath towel with their designated stations. April looked at Mikey “I’m really sorry about how I treated you, I should have known you wouldn’t lie or play a game about something so serious...”

 

He looked away, he was twirling with a nail file, spinning it between his fingers “I get it, now” he said quietly. He didn't want to get into it. "You don't have to apologize April, I just...I overreacted too".

 

She nodded and swallowed “...I just really wanted to have my mom” she choked out. She quickly looked around for the box of tissues, it was on Mikey's side of the bed on the bedside table, he held the box out to her and she plucked a few quickly catching her tears.  “Thanks...god look at me getting all snotty over an alien” she laughed, broken.

 

When she was done blowing her nose Mikey risked another question “How did you save everyone though?”

 

She shrugged “I don’t know, Raph and Casey shocked her and then they were absorbed or...something and I knew then that everyone I loved was dead and I was next” she stopped to think, settling on looking at her own nails instead of her or Mikey “I was terrified" she whispered "My head hurt so bad I though the monster was popping it off my neck. The next thing I saw was everyone covered in blood and I was standing there and I couldn’t move”.

 

“So, you have...powers?” Karai asked.

 

“I guess...but I don’t control them. Donnie doesn’t know what they are either” she laughed at herself again “Just do me a favor, don’t look at me any differently, and don’t tell the others just yet...we’re trying to find out more”

 

Mikey nodded aggressively, he started nodding before she was even done talking “You got it April, we can keep a secret”

 

“I have a lot of secrets, yours is safe with me” Karai smirked “Even from Leo”

 

April smiled back at both of them "Thank you" she said again, she grabbed one of her used tissues and dabbed her eyes again "Okay can we, uh, change the subject, anyone got a topic?"

 

"Oh! I do!" Mikey piped up all to excited "Karai did you and Leo have sex last night?"

 

There were a number of ways she could respond to such a blatant question. "No". But she was tired.

 

"Then why were you in bed together?" Mikey raised a brow.

 

This is Mikey's strength. Mikey is a sharp as any of his brothers, he just acts obtuse. It was a solid technique. It took spending almost two days in the woods with him to really see it. To really understand it and grasp it. "People can be in bed together and not have sex" she deadpanned knowing he knows this. Knowing he asks obtuse questions to get more information.

 

He plays along whether he realizes she knows what's going on or not "April and Donnie sleep in the same bed together" he says it like it means something.

 

"They aren't having sex" she states and then she sees the way April blushes "Wait, you two are fucking? Already?"

 

April blushes harder, almost drowning out her freckles "Oh god no! No, not exactly"

 

"What is that suppose to mean?" Karai asked shrilly and for the first time since her panic attack in the woods with genuine emotion.

 

"We're just talking about it?" she stammered "It's not..." she made hand movements, nonsense hand movements "You know we are only sixteen, it's not like we are in a rush" she scolded.

 

"We'll be seventeen in September!" Mikey commented.

 

"Huh just realized I am a whole ten months older than Donnie" 

 

Mikey cocked his head at April "Why is that weird?"

 

"It's not just, Karai you know what I am trying to say right?" the redhead looked at her for back-up. 

 

"Yeah. I'm..." she did quick math "One year and four months older than Leo..." she hadn't though much about the age gap.

 

Mikey locked on to the important part of this "Your birthday is this month? The 29th!?"

 

April locked on to the unimportant part "Did you just admit you are dating Leo then?" 

 

"The 30th?" Mikey asked.

 

She sighed realizing what she had started "No and no" she said to both of them.

 

April rolled her eyes and groaned "Why won't you two just admit it?"

 

"The 31st? Is it before the 29th? Help me out"

 

Karai sneered at that "I am not dating Leo. He is just my friend."

 

"Nope, you two are dating" April picked up a clipper and started working on a nail "You just don't know it yet" she said to her nail.

 

"We have to plan a party" Mikey exclaimed.

 

Karai stared a hole into April's head "What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

 

April looked up innocent and smug, at the same time. "You two are a thing, you just refuse to acknowledge it!"

 

"There's nothing to acknowledge!" she shot back to quickly.

 

April screwed up her face in doubt "Okay, girl's night secrecy applied I want you to honestly think about this. Mikey won't tell anyone-"

 

"Promise!"

 

"And neither will I" April continued "So, do you more than like him as a friend?"

 

 _Yes._ She stared at April, and April stared back. She smiled wider and wider the longer Karai stared at her trying to make her take back the question. "Yes". It felt weird to admit it.

 

"Then what's stopping you from telling him that?" April looked at Mikey then back to Karai.

 

"He doesn't-" she started.

 

"He does" April and Mikey cut her off in unison. 

 

"We tease him whenever you aren't around" Mikey said. "It makes him blush"

 

"He barely slept while Mikey and you were gone and it wasn't just because Mikey was gone" April added.

 

"He stares at you when you aren't looking" Mikey butted in.

 

"Okay!" Karai snapped. Her cheeks felt warm and this conversation was quickly getting messy "Stop!"

 

"You two would be good for each other. I think, and I don't want to sound condescending because Leo and you are both very observant and socially smart but..." April waved her hand in a circle looking for the right way to phrase the rest of her though "You're both idiots if you haven't realized that you've actually been together for over a year"

 

"At first we all thought you were messing around with us"

 

"But then you guys never dropped the act" April finished.

 

Karai shook her head, this was ridiculous. "We haven't even been on a proper date" she argued "We are not boyfriend and girlfriend...we're friend and friend" she looked at them and they looked back annoyed and sympathetic.

 

"He'd text me at early hours in the morning about spending the night with you pretending to fight and then eating takeout" April said.

 

"Seriously!?" Karai put her face on the bed and yelled softly into the duvet.

 

"Look, okay girl's night secrecy still applies when I say this...." April began to lower her voice "Leo's a gossip bug"

 

"No" Mikey gasped.

 

"Yes!" April said in a few octaves higher than her normal voice "I was shocked, but I accidentally texted him one night about the love triangle my friends were in and well...let's just say I never bothered trying to talk to Donnie about any of the drama the girls at my school started"

 

"I don't believe this" Mikey said quietly "He's so...stoic" he argued.

 

Karai lifted her face from the duvet and rested her chin on the end of the bed, she looked up at Mikey "No, she'd right he's a sassy drama lover under it all. I've only seen that side of him a couple times though".

 

April laughed "It's a win for Donnie. He no longer has to pretend to be interested in that stuff for my sake"

 

Mikey sat there with his mouth open still processing "Might be all the soaps Sensei watches. Leo watched them until we found those Space Hero DVD's but maybe his young mind was corrupted".

 

As they talked about whether or not television corrupts children she realized, finally, it seemed like things were okay. They were friends again. They were laughing. "It wouldn't work out" she interupted them "I know what you two are trying to do but look at me. Look at where I came from. It's not going to happen" she said and they looked at her with sympathy.

 

"That's the thing Karai, it already has. You two are already together. It's already working" April said earnestly and Mikey nodded. 

 

She really didn't want to keep thinking about it.

 

* * *

 May 17th, 2014 | 10:59 pm

* * *

She fed Mr. Tubbs, staring more at her freshly painted nails than the snake, only in the back of her mind did she register Leo entering the room.

 

“So, I heard you had girl’s night?” he asked as he sat on the edge of the bed to take off his gear. There was a little routine involved. Left foot wrappings, right foot wrappings, left knee pad, right knee pad, left elbow pad, right elbow pad, hand wrappings stayed on.

 

He’d change those when he had the room to himself or in the bathroom.

 

She shrugged and turned to look at him performing the routine just as she predicted “Mikey was there too”

 

“You two have gotten...close” Leo said carefully.

 

“Yeah” she agreed “You jealous or something?” she added half joking.

 

Leo gave her a look that said he knew she didn’t really think that.

 

“Alright” she let up “Just making sure you aren’t the jealous type”

 

Leo hummed but only loosened his expression slightly “It’s nice, that you two are friends, despite how weird it is”

 

“I’m full of surprises”

 

“That’s one way of putting it”

 

She watched him continue to get ready for bed, catching herself staring she turned back to the tank and finished taking care of Mr. Tubbs. All the awkwardness in the room was her own making, it was only because of the conversation April and Mikey had with her. Silently they navigated around each other prepping for bed. In the beginning it was choppy, every interaction was almost announced to each other.

 

Now it was smooth, she got dressed in the bathroom and he was never really nude in the first place. He’d cleaned his weapons and gear while she’d take care of Mr. Tubbs. She’d clean her weapon and fold her clothes while he would run through low impact katas.

 

Tasks that before took explicit explanation were now done in silence. A non-verbal communication opened up without Karai really realizing it. That didn’t bother her, it ate at her though. The same way a lot of things about Leo ate away at her. How he at some point busted down a barrier and made himself at home, and when she didn’t notice, he kept doing it.

 

She stretched a final time and turned to slithered under the bed, to say goodnight or something but his eyes met hers as he was laying down.

 

He didn’t say a word as he moved to one side of the bed from the middle.

 

She didn’t say a word when she got on the bed next to him.

 

They didn’t need to after all.

 

* * *

May 18th, 2014 | 1:05 pm

* * *

In hindsight it was juvenile to think overnight the whole house would suddenly know something was up.

 

Because they were blatantly unaware that something had changed.

 

_Wait, what had changed?_

 

“I don’t know what’s changed” Leo said around a slice of cold pizza.

 

 _Shit I did it again_ “Never mind, I was thinking about something else” she covered quickly.

 

“Anyways...” Donnie began again (she must have interrupted him) “That’s basically the plan, you two will go to these ATM’s and max them out, thus turning the money I made online into cash”

 

 _Right._ Karai’s mind spun back to her. After breakfast she had helped April sweep the dinning room and living room but then just before lunch Leo dragged her down into the ship for a meeting.

 

He literally said it was a meeting.

 

A meeting in the fucking alien spaceship.

 

_Did Donnie really make the alien spaceship his new lab?_

 

_Are we just not going to talk about last night?_

 

_Does he want to talk about last night?_

 

_Do I want to talk about last night?_

 

“Karai?” Donnie asked “You got the plan?”

 

She scoffed irritated “Yeah yeah. You, Leo and I are going to go around after dark maxing out ATM machines. You made me a fake ID in the off chance we get pulled over. You made the money playing online poker” she paused “there were some other frivolous details I didn’t care about so I ignored them but yes Donnie I have the plan”

 

Donnie squinted.

 

“Regardless of whether or not I look like I’m listening” she continued “I assure you, I am always listening”

 

“What about all the times I’d talk to you and then you would say you weren’t listening?” Leo asked pinching his brows together. He was working on the crust of his pizza. It had been down there since last night. It had to be stale, she could smell it from here there was some sauce of his lips “Half the time we used to fight you wouldn’t hear a word I was saying” he grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth. Leo was clean, he took care of his appearance even when eating. Never talking with his mouth full, he always used napkins.

 

They were seated with Donnie in between them so they could both see what he was doing on his laptop screen. The taller turtle looked back and forth between them uncomfortably as Karai kept staring at Leo. Or he was tired. Now that she thought about if Donnie seemed work on very little sleep. _How much sleep do turtles even need?_

 

“That was different” she settled on saying before looking away back at Donnie laptop screen. There were about twenty ATM's marked out.

 

_Giraffes need four hours of sleep._

 

“How?”

 

_Giraffes are probably fucking bored being awake so much._

 

“ **I** **was too busy admiring the view** ” she muttered.

 

Leo suddenly started coughing “E’use me, w’ter” he got up grabbed his crutch and made a quick exit out of the space ship. Karai lazily reached over Donnie’s laptop and grabbed a piece of pizza from the box. Taking a bite her eyes landed on Donnie who was smirking, arms crossed over his chest.

 

There was something mischievous about him. The way he sat there, smug, in his old wooden chair that he most likely pilfered from the dining room. “What?” she asked irritably taking a bite of the cold pizza.

 

“You-” he started before stopping “No, actually it’s better if I don’t tell you”

 

_Huh._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changes to fic:
> 
> 1) There was a big(?) plot hole that I had to fix. In chapter 8 Donnie and Karai go into the basement to fix the power, later in chapter 11 (end) and chapter 12 (whole time) everyone is shocked there is a basement. -_- FML Sorry that slipped through the cracks!
> 
> 2) Every chapter has dates opening the scene instead of just a regular horizontal rule. This doesn't change the story at all it just makes my life easier and hopefully the timeline is a little clearer.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karai and Leo max out ATM's while listening to the radio and that's it. Nothing else happens. I wouldn't lie to you.

* * *

 May 18th, 2014 | 6:56 pm

* * *

The Shredder never let her have a pet. Well, there was that Kraang alien he had jokingly gifted her. Of all the pets she wanted, she wanted a cat. Shini had a cat, she told Karai that when she grew up she’d adopt twenty cats. Twenty cats seemed like eighteen or nineteen cats too many, but back then she was content laying on Shini’s bed with her brand new kitten. It was pitch black and it had hair that stuck up in every direction. Its meows were high pitched and short and it was too small to jump down from the bed to the floor.

 

Now she was outside, enjoying what time she had before Leo, Donnie and her went around maxing out ATMs. She had Mr. Tubbs with her letting him get outside of his tank for some fresh air while being held in her arms. There was something comforting feeling the weight of him in her arms. He wasn’t a cat, but he was… something.

 

They were going to leave in an hour. It wasn’t something she was looking forward to exactly, she needed more time to think. To think about everything that had happened the past few days. Questions were piling up, like where the hell Leo had run off to for the past few hours.

 

* * *

 May 18th, 2014 | 7:54 pm

* * *

“I’m not going with you two after all” Donnie announced as he secured the GPS he made to the dash. Karai had stayed down in his lab with him, eating the rest of the cold pizza while thinking. There had been a companionable silence between them as he tinkered with the GPS.

 

Leo spun around to look at the taller turtle, wide eyed “Wait why?”

 

Donnie raised his shoulders in a shrug “Honestly, I’m a little worried about April” he jabbed a thumb behind him at the farmhouse “I’ll be in the living room with her near the landline if something happens... your T-Phone will work in town” he added when Leo didn’t say anything.

 

“Changing the plan is not advisable” Leo said slowly, he glanced at Karai and back to Donnie. It made her feel weird, like he didn’t want to be alone with her.

 

Donnie tapped his toes on the ground “I wasn’t really going to be doing much anyways, you two have the GPS, Karai has her ID” he pointed out “I don’t want to be a third wheel and April rented Jurassic Park so we can laugh at movie science”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s a movie, about dinosaurs” she told Leo.

 

“So helpful” he deadpanned before twisting his face up “This...”

 

“Normally I wouldn’t ask this but…” he kept nodding his head towards the farmhouse “… for April? You don’t even really need me...”

 

They didn't, Leo was wearing some human clothes, and Karai was the human torso that would be operating the ATM. The cameras would see her and the profile of a man in the driver's seat. Donnie was going to be in the back, but there really wasn't a need for it. Maybe just on the off chance something unforeseen took place.

 

Leo softened his face, his posture slacked a little in defeat. “Alright, but I’m going to call you every five stops” he said sternly.

 

Karai was unsure if the soft spot was for April or for Donnie, but Donnie gave Leo a grateful smile. “Thanks, Leo” he replied before turning back to walk into the farm house.

 

“So...” Leo said slowly, as he turned to face her.

 

 _This is so awkward._ She studied him, giving him a once over. He looked...weird. It wasn’t his fault though. Since Leo is driving he has to make an effort to look human from a distance. There’s a dark gray hooded sweatshirt draped on him. It ended mid thigh. Any tighter and it would be obvious there’s a shell under there. He’s left out his elbow pads but kept his knee pads and mask. The wrappings on his wrists are black and they are braided and knotted in a complex pattern that allows them to go from below his elbow to the tip of his fingers. The black pops out from his vibrant green skin the same way the light gray wrappings did.

 

“And no sexual commerce in the party wagon!” Donnie suddenly poked his head out of the farmhouse interrupting their stand still.

 

“Donnie!” Leo exclaimed but he’s back in the farmhouse out of sight before Leo could catch a glimpse of him “I regret letting him bail out of this” he said as he turned back to her with an amused look.

 

“You wanted to include him in our sexual commerce?” she joked. Donnie, intentionally or not, did them a huge favor by breaking the silence with something so outrageous.

 

Leo adjusted his crutch and made his way to the driver’s side of the van. “We are not having sexual commerce” he said opening the door. Karai crawled in the other side, Donnie had already removed the seat back so she could comfortable sit up front “I’ve already heard the phrase ‘sexual commerce’ too much for one life time today” he muttered putting his crutch in the back.

 

“It’s okay if you aren’t a fan” Karai assured, watching him start the van and flick on the headlight “If we aren’t partaking in sexual commerce-”

 

“-we’re not-”

 

“-then what are we doing?”

 

Leo looked ahead past the dirty windshield and squinted “The mission?”

 

“You’re no fun”

 

He hummed in agreement before glancing over at her, his foot was resting on the accelerator but he doesn't pressed down “Wear you’re seat belt”.

 

“How?” she yanked the belt down from the wall of the van to demonstrate how ineffective it would be “And if we get pulled over me not wearing my seat belt is the last of our problems”.

 

He started driving “Fine, go through the windshield” he chided “See what I care”

 

“Should I not be confident in your driving?” she asked as they pull onto the highway.

 

Leo kept his eyes on the road “There are reports of a reckless driver in the area” he said matter-of-factly “Defensive driving and wearing your seat belt are the best ways to prevent a deadly accident”

 

“How did you even learn to drive?” she wondered. There was a conversation between them now and she didn’t want to lose it. Leo hadn’t properly talked to her since lunch time in the basement.

 

Leo dodged her question instead “Practice makes perfect”

 

“Wasn’t aware you were a walking motivation poster” she poked.

 

“It’s true, practice is the best way to learn”

 

That’s where the conversation ended. _It would be a long drive then_. Trees flew by outside the window and she kept replaying everything that had happened between her and Leo that day.

 

“I taught Casey how to parallel park” he interrupted her thoughts.

 

Karai laughed before she could stop herself “Casey sucks at parallel parking” she looked over at him, his eyes still glued to the road, both hands on the steering wheel “And what does that have to do with practicing?”

 

“Well so do I” Leo admitted to her first comment. “And I had to practice how to teach Casey to parallel park with Raph playing the role as Casey because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing any steps before trying to teach Casey” he rambled towards the end.

 

“That doesn’t explain why he sucks at parallel parking?”

 

She would like to think, had his hands not been stuck to the steering wheel, Leo would have raised a finger before beginning his explanation “For one Raph was a horrible stand in for the role of Casey Jones, Casey was surprisingly a very good student” he paused “Secondly Casey wanted to learn using his aunt’s car...”

 

Leo bit his lip and winced.

 

“….I can parallel park the Shell Raiser” he said then he tilted his head to the left and raised his shoulders up “Turns out a 2010 Subaru Forester….” he trailed of in embarrassment “A little different”

 

Karai snickered at the idea of Casey crashing his aunt’s car at the behest of Leo's instructions.

 

“Look he passed his test” Leo defended voice raising an octave.

 

“I’ve seen the drivers in New York” she laughed “If you are proud of him passing his driver’s test your bar is extremely low”

 

Leo scowled at the windshield “You teach Casey how to drive, it’s a miracle I didn’t die”. Karai laughed again but Leo ignored her “Didn’t help having Raph in the back seat cackling every time Casey stomped of the accelerator” he lamented “He was a good student...he just had heavy feet”

 

“If it makes you feel better I’ve gone to the store with him and April a few times and we all survived”

 

“Thanks” Leo said with fake enthusiasm “Real high praise, I’ll try not to let that go to my head”

 

They arrived at their first stop, Karai felt a little better about being in the van with him all night. Maybe it wouldn’t be as awkward as she had feared.

 

* * *

 May 18th, 2014 | 9:24 pm

* * *

It was as awkward as she had feared.

 

Between the farmhouse and the first stop they talked about driving. Then from their first stop to their second they drove in silence. That pattern repeated until Leo called to check in with Donnie and for a brief minute the once quiet van was filled with their one sided conversation.

 

Now they were back to silence. Leo sighed and reached for the radio.

 

“I wouldn’t do that” Karai warned.

 

Leo left his hand suspended in the air in front of the knob “Why? It’s dead silent in here” he pointed out.

 

Karai smirked “The first song that plays will definitely be awkward, it happens every time two people get into a vehicle when there is a subject they are both avoiding”

 

He gave her a funny glance before promptly putting his eyes back on the road “How long were you in that old lady’s house again, watching sitcoms?” he questioned.

 

“Fine, do it, damn us both to a song that will somehow relate to the unsaid conflict that hangs between us” she taunted watching in slow motion as he pressed the knob in.

 

“ _-I would’ve followed you…_

 _Say something I’m giving up on y-_ ”

 

He quickly pressed the knob again, coughed into his fist and put his hand back on the steering wheel.

 

“Not a word” he said as he stared straight ahead.

 

“I didn’t say anything” Karai said amused.

 

* * *

 May 18th, 2014 | 10:10 pm

* * *

 _DJ Leo back at it again_ , his hand on route to the radio’s knob when she reached out and smacked the top of his hand “Ow” he pulled his hand back “Did you just smack my hand?” he asked in disbelief.

 

After the first (and Karai had hoped last) attempt at filling the silence in the van with music they had continued to drive around in silence.

 

“Did you just say ‘ow’ when I lightly tapped your hand” she retorted trying not to laugh at him. He reached for the knob again “Don’t do it” she warned again readying her hand for another smack.

 

“It’s been twenty minutes, that song will be over” he argued, and he pressed it.

 

“ _-day and night,_

_it’s only right_

_to think about the girl you love_

_and hold her tight_

_so hap-_ ”

 

He quickly pressed the knob again and looked straight ahead.

 

“So-” she started.

 

“-Our stop is coming up, not a good time for music” he said quickly.

 

There stop was not coming up. They were on a stretch of highway.

 

“The GPS says we’ll arrive in ten minutes” Karai said tapping the screen.

 

Leo nodded “Yep, coming up real soon”

 

She nodded her head. “Sure”

 

* * *

 May 18th, 2014 | 10:50 pm

* * *

“Oh no you don’t” he said as he pulled his hand back just in time to avoid her smack. “Calm down, I was just reaching over towards the... dash”

 

Karai huffed “What on the dash, aside from the radio, would you be reaching for?”

 

He opened his mouth and then closed it.

 

“Uh huh”

 

“Alright, I was trying to turn on the radio” he admitted “They can’t play...you know, all night”

 

“What?” she said turning away to look out the passenger side window “They can’t play oddly specific love songs all night? Yes Leo, they can, that’s how the universe works” she said to the glass window.

 

Leo hit the knob anyways.

 

“ _-goes my baby. She knows how to rock 'n' roll._

 _She drives me crazy. She gives me hot and cold fe_ _v_ _-_ ”

 

The radio was silenced. Leo made a pitiful groan. “Not a word?” she asked not bothering to look over at him.

 

“Not a word” he repeated

 

* * *

 May 19th, 2014 | 12:03 am

* * *

After their last ATM stop, Karai stored the cash in April’s backpack (since no one hand a cliche duffel bag on hand) and threw it in the back while Leo dialed the landline for the last check in.

 

Once they were on the road again Leo started for the radio and Karai couldn’t resist “Glutton for punishment?” she asked.

 

Leo snorted “No, no, I am going to tune it away from the cursed-”

 

“Cursed” Karai repeated flatly

 

“-radio station to something safe-”

 

“Safe” she repeated over his run on sentence.

 

He kept ignoring her “Like a late night talk show” he explained.

 

“ _-_ _s_ _o come on down for fifty percent off your first mattress from Lumpy Mattress Co_ ”

 

“That’s a horrible name” Karai stated and Leo nodded in agreement. He took his hand away from the knob, the commercial was safe in his book apparently.

 

“ _Now back to the show._

‘ _Good evening James’_

‘ _Evening Stephanie’_

‘ _Are you ready for tonight?’_

‘ _I sure am Steph because it’s Midnight_ _R_ _elationship_ _A_ _dvice Monday’-_ ”

 

“That doesn’t even rhyme!” Leo exclaimed dumbfounded.

 

Karai closed her eyes.

 

“’ _That’s right folks we are taking calls right now’_

‘ _I’ll warn you, we aren’t experts but we’ve been around the block a few times’_

‘ _Alright James no need to mislead the public’_

‘ _oh and it looks like we have our first caller-_ ”

 

Karai shook her head “Quick, turn it off while you’re ahead” she warned.

 

“’ _Am I on the air?’_

‘ _You sure are son, what’s your name?’_

‘ _Oh geez, uh Arron’_

‘ _Well Arron who’s the lucky girl-’_

‘ _-Or guy-’_

‘ _-who’s got your heart in a flurry?’_

‘ _It’s a girl, uh, I…. she’s like my best frien-_ ”

 

“Alright” Leo turned off the radio. “That’s really unlucky” he muttered.

 

“I was really invested in Arron’s love life” Karai fake complained.

 

“I’m sure” he quipped back.

 

They drove in silence for thirty minutes and she hated every minute of it. Every time she looked over at him he was focused on the road. It felt wrong, their silence was forced. This wasn't two friends driving around in companionable silence the same way she sat in the lab with Donnie without talking to him. When they turned down the drive, it was obvious everyone was already in bed. The house was dark and quiet. Leo parked the car in front of the porch on the lawn, the barn was still a mess, otherwise it would have stored there.

 

Before he turned off the engine she broke the silence. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked trying to sound casual.

 

“You say a lot of wrong things” Leo pointed out and Karai felt her face fall. Leo looked over at her and began back peddling “I mean, crude things, what are you asking exactly before I make this worse”

 

“This whole...thing...it's been awkward. Usually we joke around more or something” she tried to explain “So did I do something?”

 

Leo looked around thinking “Uh... Sorta?” he said unsure.

 

“Sorta?” she repeated back.

 

He pulled at the sleeves of his hoodie “I know Japanese” he said. “I thought you knew...but then you said what you said earlier..." he trailed off but kept looking at her.

 

“You’re lying” she told him. But Leo was a shit liar, and right now he wasn't lying. She wanted it to be a lie.

 

Leo looked at her confused “No, uh I started learning when I was nine. I think? Maybe younger.” he explained.

 

"Prove it" she demanded quietly. Almost angry.

 

"Really?" he asked.

 

She didn't move.

 

“Okay fine, but don’t make fun me, I’m still not perfect with my pronunciation...” he warned before clearing his throat and saying in pretty decent Japanese “ **I don’t know what to say. Words. Van. Radio. Steering wheel-** ”

 

“Fuck me” she breathed out.

 

“Uh”

 

“How the fuck did I not know that!” she yelled out, not at him, more at herself.

 

Leo shrugged “I wasn’t avoiding you today, or I guess technically yesterday...” he gestured toward the clock on the dash “...I just didn’t know what to do”

 

"About what? Talking to me?" she asked.

 

"No..." he pointed at her then himself a few times "I mean about us. I don't know what to do about us"

 

The van was still running, they sat there for a moment and Karai knew this was it. If he knew what she said in Donnie's lab what was the point in denying it anymore.

 

 _It’s just Leo_. “April told me that...” she trailed off and looked away from him, choosing to stare out the windshield instead “Why is this so fucking awkward?” she muttered. Leo was looking at her with concern, he was jumping to the worst case scenario. _What even is the worst case scenario?_ She steadied herself before speaking again “April told me-" she looked at him and couldn't continue.

 

_Fuck it._

 

Frustrated and angry with herself she hit the radio knob and before the talk show could even start she rolled it right back to the station they were on before.

 

“ _-keep it up girl you turn me on-_ ”

 

She immediately silenced the radio.

 

There was a really painful slow second of silence before Leo made a strained noise in his throat and they both started laughing.

 

“I thought it would be something sappy” she finally got out after their laughter died down “They were all sappy before!”

 

Leo shook his head “I guess I wasn’t the only one to have bad luck with the radio”.

 

“I guess not”

 

Leo turned off the engine and they both got out and headed towards the back of the van. He put his hand on the latch but didn’t move to open the door, instead he looked at her.

 

They were standing close, both ready to unload the van of the few things they had packed for their errand. The porch light was left on for them so they could get into the farmhouse easily. They might as well be standing on a stage with a bright spot light on them. It felt like there was a delay somewhere in her brain because he was looking at her and not moving and she had only just now realized it. “I think i'm about to mess this up” he told her still frozen in place with his hand on the latch.

 

She didn’t respond, she knew what he was going to do, to answer him she slithered a little further into his reach. He stepped closer and pulled her into him, he had one hand on her upper back and the other he wasn’t quite sure what to do with. To be fair she wasn’t sure what to do with her hands either she settled on resting one flat against the front of his shell and the other on his side. He still had that stupid hoodie on, his shell was hard under the cotton blended fabric. Despite that detail, pressing her lips on his felt exactly the way she had imagine. He held her tight against him and it was grounding and familiar, his movements were planned but the experience was new and it showed. It only lasted a few seconds before they both pulled away and loosened their embrace on each other, both having realized what they just did.

 

“Well? Did I mess it up?” Leo asked uncertainly after a moment. They weren’t touching anymore, they’d both back off a little, giving each other some space.

 

“No” she said quickly, her mind felt like it was lagging behind. For once didn’t want any room for misunderstanding, she didn’t want to let any seeds of doubt fester and tear this away from her “No” she repeated shaking her head. He immediately looked relieved, like he was holding his breath waiting for everything to crumble. “Just promise me you’ll do that again sometime” she added with a smile.

 

* * *

May 19th, 2014 | 12:40 am

* * *

He did do it again.

 

And again.

 

Until it was as natural as breathing.

 

* * *

 May 19th, 2014 | 8:30am

* * *

"What did April tell you" he mumbled tracing a circle between he shoulder blades. They slept together on the bed again. Not that they went to sleep right away though, they couldn't. Not after what had happened. So when they woke up late the next morning they didn't get up immediately. She was curled up next to him, they were on their sides facing each other arms draped over each other. It had been like that all night.

 

"She said we've been a couple for a while"

 

Leo hums in acknowledgement.

 

"And we just didn't know it"

 

"We should set up an information tree" he mused. "Cut down on all these miscommunications"

 

"For what, the two of us?" she asked wondering if he had fallen back to sleep and walk talking nonsense.

 

He nodded "Like I said, it'd cut down on all these miscommunication"

 

April knocked on their door. "Rise and shine guys" she called to them "we saved you some breakfast!"

 

Leo cracked open his eyes "Duty calls I guess". He untangled himself from her and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'll see you at breakfast?" he asked as she gathered up her clothes.

 

"Maybe" she said "I think I am going to hog the upstairs bathroom while I can"

 

They went their separate ways and Karai settled into the bathroom. Waking up felt like a dream, no, everything felt like a dream and it terrified her. There was a looming certainty that she would wake up and it would all be gone. Pushing past it she washed her hair in the sink and cleaned her manicured nails before setting out her scissors and the electric hair trimmer that she hoped Kirby O'Neil only ever used on his face.

 

* * *

 May 19th, 2014 | 9:30 am

* * *

“Why am I always the one who has to do the hair?” Karai asked April.

 

“I’m not sure I like that you are implying you and April have done this before” Donnie muttered keeping his face as still as possible.

 

Karai and April shared a knowing glance. “You know Bigfoot didn’t complain once while we were working on her” April remarked as she applied some moth pink lip stick on Donnie’s lack of lips. “Don’t lick your lips”

 

“You see I’m pretty sure Bigfoot wanted her makeover, me on the other hand, I am perfectly content being a giant-”

 

“Bigfoot also talked less”

 

“-turtle who barely wears clothing. In fact I was perfectly happy not knowing what I would look like with makeup on-”

 

“If we open up a salon I think we should gag the customers”

 

“-now I have this image of myself burned in my skull I already have undiagnosed insomnia this is only going to exacerbate the issue-”

 

“I don’t think anyone would come to our salon and let us gag them”

 

“-and we wouldn’t have to do this if I could trust Casey to buy the right things at the store but no I can’t trust Casey Jones with anything especially not with wandering around a Lowe’s with hard-”

 

“Anyone who is witness to this would understand though”

 

“-cash with my girlfriend so I have to do-” Donnie stammers pointing at the aged bathroom mirror “-this!”

 

A silence hung in the cramp bathroom. Karai fluffed the curls on the white wig and adjusted the scarf. It was a deep violet scarf with bright yellow daisy printed on it. Outside the door someone was giggling at Donnie’s monologue.

 

“Get away from that door right now Casey I am having a crisis!” Donnie practically screeched as the teen could be heard cackling harder before walking away and down the stairs.

 

The tension had been rising slowly since the beginning of this makeover but now Donnie was losing it. “I think this is...well it’s the closest we can do with what we have” Karai stood behind Donnie looking at him in the mirror. They tried their best to make him into and old lady. A few pillows had been sacrificed, their innards harvested in order to give the disguised turtle a more...curvaceous and filled out form.

 

“I can’t do this, I’m panicking, I’m losing it, this is nuts-”

 

April was putting on some knitted (yes knitted) socks on his feet while the turtle rambled.

 

“People. Broad daylight. I will be discovered and captured and put in a zoo”

 

“You won’t be put in a zoo-”

 

“-I have allergies I wouldn’t last long April I-”

 

“Stop” April snapped looking up at him “You’re going to make yourself sick with worry”

 

“How am I not suppose to be sick with worry?” he whined

 

April stood up and got behind him so that she and Karai were both looking over his shoulders while he was seated on a wooden stool in front of the mirror. It was a weird moment as they all stood staring at the reflection of themselves in the absolutely crazy circumstance they were in. “You are no longer a turtle” April stated her hand was on his back over the zipper seam of the dress he was wearing.

 

“What are-”

 

“You are Nana O’Neil and you had one child in 1965. You now have your grandson Casey visiting you for the summer and being such a sweet boy, he is helping you fix your house up after you were a victim of local vandals”

 

Donnie nodded obediently. Trying to soak in what April was saying.

 

“You have a fake knee and a busted hip, you have gout and a hump back thus the wheelchair. You were a nurse, you’re tough as nails, take no crap and frankly you’re too stubborn to die at 91 years young”

 

April was giving him a pep talk. A really messed up pep talk Karai silently decided.

 

“You also have dementia”

 

“Okay” Donnie sat up straighter “Out of curiosity, how much of that is true about your Grandmother?”

 

April shrugged dropping her inspirational speaker vibe “Little to none, but look you are missing the best part about this, Donnie”

 

Donnie frowned “What could that possibly be?”

 

“You get to be Casey’s dementia riddled grandma in public” she smirked “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought of a hundred different ways to embarrass him by the time I finish this sentence.

 

A mischievous grin spread over Donnie’s face, his weirdly pale to pink face complete with penciled in wrinkles.

 

They all shared a glance smiling.

 

“Alright” Donnie stood up making the bathroom even more crowded “It’s showtime”

 

* * *

May 19th, 2014 | 11:02 am

* * *

“It’s a little weird how good you and April are at giving mutants makeovers” Leo commented while everyone else was by Donnie soaking in the view.

 

“Are you jealous?” Karai sipped out of a water bottle she was holding and felt her stomach grumble “I did the wig, April did most of the makeup”

 

“Uh speaking of hair, I like what you did with yours” he slipped into the conversation tentatively but watched her carefully for a reaction.

 

She rubbed her hand over the shaved sides. It was different than what she had in New York. The back and sides were buzz cut and the top was longer, comb over to one side not long enough to hang past her ear1. It was long since past due that she actually fix her hair, she had stopped caring when she was mutated. “Thanks, I was thinking about adding some highlights”

 

“I’m sure they’d look great” he smiled but soon everyone had their fill of Grandma Donnie as the real plan began Leo quickly put on is leader voice “Alright we are in the Dix Mountain Wilderness outside of Tahawus New York, Mikey stop laughing, and the target is in Glenville New York2. The Lowe’s team consisting of Casey, April, Donnie, and Karai will be taking the party wagon while Team Farmhouse cleans the barn so we have somewhere to store all the material when Team Lowe’s returns”

 

No one said anything or objected so Leo continued “Tahawus to Glenville is a two hour drive, so Team Lowe’s will be unable to contact us until they arrive at the city where they will call to confirm they arrived and will call before they depart for the drive back here”

 

“Cellphone reception is still spotty but the landline works fine, Karai and I had no problems reaching the house last night. If something happens I have marked down potential meeting points that Team Farmhouse will start scouting on foot after sundown. Is the plan clear?”

 

“Are we really in Dix Mountain Wilderness?” Mikey asked grinning.

 

Raph swung at Mikey but he dodged laughing, Team Lowe’s loaded the van. The two teams shared an awkward goodbye, Donnie was being loaded in the back to give him and his costume space.

 

“So” Leo said quietly “Will you be okay, going with them?”

 

Raph lifted a cooler into the back, it held some food and water for the road “Why wouldn’t I be” she asked raising an eyebrow as she turned to face him a little more. Leo also turned a little, adjusting the crutch under his right arm as he went.

 

“It’s just, seems like you and Mikey just got back and now you’re leaving again and-” he stopped abruptly.

 

The van was almost loaded “We’ll be coming back”

 

He nodded and they stood there awkwardly for a second. "So...” He looked at her searching her eyes and she knew what he was asking.

 

“Just between us, for now” she whispered  glancing back at the others. “No fun in letting everyone know immediately is there?”

 

Leo smiled “No, I guess not”

 

“Wrap it up Romeo” Raph hollered from the van “Juliet’s carriage awaits”

 

They separated, awkwardly and without touching each other or saying anything. “Cinderella was the one with the carriage, dude” Mikey whispered into Raph’s ear as Karai got into the back of the van. She coiled herself opposite of Donnie who was sitting in the wheel chair in the back.

 

“Who the hell cares!” Raph yelled back at Mikey shutting the door behind her. Donnie’s expression was unreadable behind his scarf, make-up and huge rose colored golden framed mirrored sun glasses. But Karai assumed he was annoyed, and would be until he could start publicly humiliating Casey.

 

“Alright” Casey said from the driver’s seat “Petal to the metal it’s time to get this party started” he turned the radio to a metal station and soon the van was filled with the guttural screaming of some angst ridden lead vocalist.

 

She wondered why her and Leo didn’t think of that last night.

 

She’s glad they didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Refs  
> 1 What I had in mind for Karai's new hair: https://i.imgur.com/23FOlUv.jpg
> 
> 2 "93 Freemans Bridge Rd, Glenville, NY 12302" In case you want to know exactly what Lowe's they are going to... (put it in google maps should pop up)
> 
> Radio songs in order of appearance  
> A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera - Say Something  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2U0Ivkn2Ds
> 
> Happy Together - Turtles  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZEURntrQOg
> 
> Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO6D_BAuYCI
> 
> Blue Swede - Hooked On A Feeling  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo-qweh7nbQ
> 
> Alright, I'm going to disappear for a month and a half again.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> War on the Speed Demon is declared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder:  
>  **Bold words** = Japanese

* * *

May 19th, 2014 | 7:06 pm

* * *

 “Well this is just great” April pointed at Casey and Donnie who were currently fighting each other. “Not only do we have a flat tire, they have to get into a fist fight”

 

Karai rubbed the knot on her head, where her skull hit the window. Hiding her snake half in the unkempt wild brush that bordered the highway so anyone driving by would only see a girl standing in the woods, though she can't remember seeing another car aside from the one that hit them. “You still have the cellphone?”

 

April handed over the phone and Karai opened it and frowned. “No bars”

 

“Great” April snapped glaring daggers at Donnie and Casey.

 

“I’m going to see if I can find a spot with service”

 

The two boys continued to yell at each other, but she tuned it out. “And what am I suppose to do?” April called after her. “Break them up? This is ridiculous, what if a trooper drives by or someone snaps a picture-”

 

“Of a punk wrestling some old lady?” Karai said holding up the phone trying to find bars.

 

April stalked off towards the duo and Karai sneered at the LED screen in attempts to intimidate some network coverage into it. After slithering around for a good five minutes, half watching the phone and half listening to Donnie insult Casey’s driving, she got one ungrateful bar.

 

The phone rang once before the line clicked and Karai spoke first. “It’s Karai”

 

“ _Karai_ ” Leo’s voice came through in a crackle. “ _Is everything okay? Did you guys get everything at Lowe’s?_ ”

 

Karai turned back to see April sitting on the bumper staring unimpressed at Casey and Donnie who were yelling not very creative insults at each other. “I didn’t actually go in the store with them, but they seemed to make it out in one piece”. Casey was on his toe tips trying to loom over Donnie. “We might not all come home in one piece”

 

“ _Why not?_ ”

 

“Some wacko ran us off the road”. Donnie and Casey’s foreheads were almost touching. “Casey lost control of the car and now we have a flat”

 

“ _Is anyone hurt?_ ” he asked on the heels of her story.

 

Karai squinted, April was getting up trying to get in between them. “Not yet”

 

“ _What do you mean not yet?_ ”

 

“Casey just yanked Donnie’s wig off and threw it in the road” Karai narrated as she watched the unfolding scene.

 

“ _What!?_ ”

 

Karai nodded her head. “I know, I worked really hard on that wig”

 

“ _That’s not-_ ”

 

“They are on the pavement now” she continued tiredly. “Casey ripped the dress, April is trying to separate them-”

 

“ _-are you seriously just standing there describing what is happening-_ ”

 

“Donnie just lost both his boobs”

 

“ _-Karai-_ ”

 

“Casey is shoving said boobs right into Donnie’s mouth”

 

It sounded like air was being blown into the receiver.

 

“Donnie sneezed in Casey’s face, Casey’s mouth was open” she continued.

 

“ _-are you done yet-_ ”

 

“They both seem equally disgusted. Fight is ending, April is saying something about corners.” Slithering a little deeper into the woods she found a tree to lean against while listening to Leo mumble something inaudible.

 

“ _What do you guys need from us?_ ” Leo asked. “ _How close are you guys to the farmhouse?_ ”

 

“I don’t know, ten or twenty minutes”. April was crouching down next to the flat tire. “I think April is changing the tire, so we’ll probably just arrive late”

 

“ _So other than that you guys are good?_ ”

 

“Yeah, we got everything… I think”

 

Leo paused. “ _You think?_ ”

 

“There was a lot of yelling. I’m not exactly sure but I think Donnie might have embarrassed Casey a few times during their shopping spree”

 

“ _That doesn’t sound like Donnie_ ” Leo said slowly.

 

Karai shrugged, even though Leo couldn’t see it. “People are full of surprises”

 

“ _If_ _by surprises you mean bad influences...then yes_ ”

 

“Are you suggesting that I put him up to it?” she asked mildly insulted. “Maybe you just don’t know your brother as well as you thought?”

 

“ _Sure_ ” Leo deadpanned

 

“It was April’s idea”

 

“ _Sure_ ” he said in the same tone as before.

 

“No, really” she insisted.

 

“ _You had no part_ _in it?_ ” he asked skeptically.

 

“I mean, did I maybe give him some ideas on the way to the store? Who can say, it was so long ago. The past is in the past” she trailed off watching Casey try to wipe his tongue off.

 

“ _It was eight hours ago_ ” he did nothing to hide how exasperated he was.

 

“A lot has happened in the past eight hours Leo” she said dramatically. “We aren’t the same people you said goodbye to this morning”

 

“ _Karai_ ” he said, or more so sighed.

 

“Yes?”

 

“ _Go help April with the tire_ ”

 

“You’re no fun”

 

“ _Bye, Karai_ ”

 

With that she closed the flip phone and turned her attention fully to the road. There was still a surprising lack of cars going by on what had to be a very popular highway. She slithered over to April and watched her as she examined the tire.

 

“I never learned that kind of stuff” she said after a moment. More to announce her presence to April than anything.

 

April hummed but didn’t look up at her. “I could teach you, I mean, if you want to learn”

 

“Sure” she agreed. Donnie picked up his wig and shook it off giving Casey a dirty look before placing it back on his head. “Probably a good skill to have, if I’m ever on the side of the road with and angst filled emo and a mutant drag queen”

 

April blew air out her mouth in frustration. “I mean, maybe this isn't the best example actually” she said holding the jack in her hands after failing to position it.

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because we're in a ditch, we need to be a little more level so we can raise the vehicle and take off the wheel...” she sighed. “Can this get any worse?”

 

 _I mean…_ She decided to not add on to the misery. “So we need a tow truck?”

 

April’s face said it all and Karai felt the dread of having to find a bar again weigh in her gut. “So I need to call Leo so he can give us the number to a tow company?”

 

“Yeah, sorry.” she added sympathetically. “I thought the ground was flat enough to do it but...”

 

Karai looked at the sky and pulled the cellphone out again. “This day.”

 

“It is Monday”

 

This time the cellphone coverage gods looked down upon the two humans and two mutants and denied them any bars. After slithering a half mile up the road. _Anyone who sees me will probably think they’re hallucinating._ She still failed to get one bar. In desperation she coiled up a pine tree.

 

A good distance in the tree, covered is sticky sap and pine needles, she went from zero bars to five. Cursing at the phone she hit redial and the line picked up after the first ring.

 

“It's Karai, again” she offered unprompted.

 

Not Leo’s voice responded. “ _H_ _ey_ _K_ _arai!_ ”

 

“Mikey?”

 

“ _Y_ _es_ ” Mikey said happily. “ _I_ _mean no._ _I_ _mean uh_ _I_ _don't know what you're talking about no one lives in this abandoned farmhouse_ ”. His voice was suddenly skeptical and mysterious. Karai closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _One, two, three, four, fi-_

 

“You already know it's me, you don't have to pretend that-”

 

“ _Give me that!_ ” Raph snarled. There was a yelp, presumably from Mikey, and the sounds of two bodies hitting the wooden floor boards of the farmhouse. “ _What?_ ”

 

“We need a tow truck.”

 

“ _W_ _hy?_ ”

 

 _What the hell do you mean why?_ “Because the party wagon is in a ditch?” she quipped. “Just get me the number to a tow company.”

 

“ _F_ _ine give me a secon’._ ”

 

The phone was put down and she could make out some background noise. From her perch high in the tree she could see Casey and Donnie attempting to push the van out of the ditch.

 

“ _It's mikey again._ ” Mikey said. Perhaps taking advantage of the unattended phone.

 

Karai turned her attention away from the scene below. “Hi Mikey.” she said it with no enthusiasm. Not because it was Mikey who was on her nerves, it was mostly being up in a tree covered in sap.

 

Did she mention she was covered in sap?

 

“ _So how's it going?_ ” he asked casually. He was bored, They likely had finished up all of their work at the farmhouse and now there was nothing to do except wait for the others to get back.

 

She tried to wipe her hands off on the trunk of the tree, resulting in only more sap attaching itself to her. “Great, just great, I'm covered in sap, thirty feet up a tree-”

 

“ _I feel like this is sarcas-_ ”

 

“ _So princess-_ ” Raph interrupted taking the phone from Mikey.

 

Karai paused. “Excuse me?”

 

“ _-the phone book._ ”

 

“Yes, the phone book. the big yellow book with all the fucking numbers. That book.” she repeated.

 

Raph growled and leaned into the receiver. “ _I know what a phone book is and if you were half as smart as Mikey-_ ”

 

“ _Hey!_ ” Mikey retorted somewhere in the background.

 

“ _You'd remember tha’ SOMEONE attempted to beat mutant frogs away with it!_ ”

 

_Huh._

 

“ _S_ _o no tow truck-_ ”

 

“- interesting, if only there was, I don't know, some huge search engine that one could use to look up a fucking number” Karai mused dryly.

 

Raph was silent.

 

She was silent.

 

“ _H_ _ave_ _D_ _onnie text me the password to his laptop an I'll text you the number_ ” he said finally, hanging up before she could say anything back.

 

* * *

May 19th, 2014 | 8:02 pm

* * *

After slithering back (and collecting every dead leaf, twig and dirt molecule with her sticky sap covered tail) she found everyone was more of less not talking to each other. April didn’t look too happy with either Donnie or Casey.

 

She approached Donnie. “Here” she pushed the phone into his hand. “They need your laptop password.”

 

Or at least that’s what she thought she said, but the way Donnie’s face contorted into horror made her question herself a little. “Why!?” he asked.

 

“So they can look up the number for a tow truck?” she said slowly.

 

Donnie made a weird noise in the back of his throat before opening the cellphone. “What happened to the phone book?” he asked while cradling the cell phone in his hands.

 

“Why is everyone suddenly so invested in the fucking well being of the phone book!?” she nearly shouted and they all looked at her a little shocked.

 

Casey was the first to speak. “Didn't you go crazy and try to show it to a frog or something?”

 

“Crazy?” she rounded on him. “I was trying to pre-”

 

“Here” Donnie said in a defeated voice holding the phone out for Karai to take, but Casey intercepted it.

 

“Ah ha!” he cheered running a few yards away with it before moaning. “Awww, no fair you deleted the text after you sent it!”

 

Donnie rolled his eyes. “I was going to change my password anyways Jones!” he yelled back.

 

“We could kill them” Karai offered turning to face April “and say they didn't make it.”

 

April pinched her eyebrows together and gave her a disapproving look. “Why do you immediately jump to murder?”

 

Karai stared at her.

 

“Alright it was a dumb question.” April admitted after a moment.

 

* * *

May 19th, 2014 | 8:39 pm

* * *

Of course the two mutants had to cut through the woods in order to get home. Something about how “the tow truck guy would freak out”. It was okay though, not like she was covered in sap and now slithering through the dirty woods.

 

Not like April got four bars by literally crossing the highway.

 

She wasn't bitter, or anything.

 

“Casey ripped my dress” Donnie said, holding his dress above his knees as he trudged through the forest.

 

Karai glanced back at him. “Your dress? Are we embracing this now?”

 

“Merely adopting the role” he explained, more concerned with where he was stepping than where he was going. “I have to wear this when the handy men arrive in two days, I would like to look presentable.”

 

“Handy men?” she repeated. More to herself.

 

“We didn’t tell you?”

 

“The only thing you said in the van involved yelling at Casey”

 

Donnie took a big step over a fallen log but otherwise refused to acknowledge the statement. “Well, some of the work involves a bit more than just hammering planks here and there. We had more than enough money to hire some workers. That way when we leave the farmhouse it won’t be a complete wreck”

 

“What are we going to do while the handymen are working on the house again?”

 

“Ask Leo” he responded absently. If she hadn’t been living with him for nearly five months she might have found his tone rude, but this was Donnie. He was invested and focused on one thing at a time, it just so happened his current project was his dress and not their conversation.

 

She continued the conversation despite this. “Speaking of Leo, someone did call ahead to make sure they know a tow truck is coming up the drive...right?”

 

“Yeah, April called and made sure they knew that a _human_ tow man was coming” he made a disgruntled noise. “I’m going to have to fix the Party Wagon, and I’m almost certain I barely have half the tools I need”

 

“I thought it was just a flat?”

 

Donnie shrugged at the ground. “Perfect opportunity to put some upgrades on it” he suggested. “Oh, at the cost of fuel efficiency I could make it bullet proof!”

 

They reached a particularly steep hill and Karai stopped wondering if they should go around it or use the young skinny saplings that littered the hillside as hand rails. “What even ran us off the road?” she asked tugging a sapling. _Would this hold my weight? How much do I weigh? Do I want to know?_

 

“Casey's poor driving” Donnie said looking at the hill.

 

Karai rolled her eyes and turned around to look at him, deciding the hill would not be conquered tonight. “That other car literally reared ended us”

 

“People are assholes, Casey claims it was a demon” he argued. “What a moron I mean assuming demons are real, and just for this conversation let’s exclude demons in religion and assuming-”

 

“-how about we assume that I literally do not care enough to listen to this for the next hour” Karai interrupted as she rerouted them around the hill.

 

Donnie gathered the slack of his dress and followed. “Fair enough”.

 

With him mostly preoccupied with his dress, and her mostly preoccupied with collecting every fucking leaf and dead bug on the forest floor, their journey back to the farmhouse was in silence. Donnie muttered a few things, “Refrigerator graveyards...maybe” was one of the more obscure ones that stuck in her mind.

 

At least Donnie wasn’t pestering her about Leo, like Casey or April would be. The only reason she had been spared the onslaught of questioning was the fact that on the way there they both sat up front and she was busy giving Donnie ideas.

 

“Oh, hey, what happened in the store?” she asked.

 

Donnie clicks his tongue. “Just the best day of my life, well, eh, fourth best day”

 

“Spit it out”

 

“Well” he began longingly. “First off, there was an unforeseen variable”

 

“Unforeseen variable?”

 

“Other girls, college aged probably, why they were at Lowe’s on a Monday afternoon? I don’t know but oh it was perfect because he pulled the moves on them”

 

Karai screwed her face up. She’d expected Casey to try flirting with April in public when Donnie would be helpless to do anything.

 

“So, as a good grandmother I introduced them”

 

_Ah yes, who wouldn’t want to have a date scheduled by their grandmother._

 

“I told them all about my grandson” Donnie said evilly. “Really played up the frail old lady thing, shook a little clutched his hand and told four, twenty year old girls, how sweet my boy is”

 

She stopped. “That’s...” _actually pretty good._

 

“I told them how he begs to massage my feet at night, how good he is at giving sponge baths. Very gentle. His face got so red!” Donnie cackled. “But he couldn’t do anything because I was his frail, sweet grandma. He was trapped in a social construct of his own making! If he scolded me they would be disgusted by the way he treats me, but if he denied it I could just come back with how modest he was being”

 

At lost for words Karai just stared mouth slightly agape.

 

She had created a monster.

 

She...she was so proud.

 

Donnie managed to compose himself enough to continue. “Now when I brought up the bed pan he just grabbed the wheelchair and steered us out of there.”

 

“I...”

 

“I know” he said holding up a hand in defeat. “Wheel locks, should have applied them”

 

“No...” she shook her head. “You did good”

 

“Thank you”

 

“No, I mean” she started slithering again, unaware that she had stopped at some point during his story. “Maybe a little too good, he’s going to get you back now”

 

Donnie mulled that over for a few minutes. “Will you fix my wig for me when we get back?”

 

She started laughing.

 

“What, I need it for-”

 

“No it’s just-” _sometimes I forget that this is my life now_ “-it's. It's nothing. Yes I'll fix your wig”.

 

“Thank you” he said giving his wig a little adjustment as they walked.

 

“Since you seem so unconcerned about what Casey will do in retaliation” she added.

 

“It’s Casey” he said. “Do I need to be worried?”

 

* * *

May 19th, 2014 | 11:34 pm

* * *

 “You smell like pine”

 

In response Karai rubbed her tail over his legs and then returned herself to her side of the bed without saying a word.

 

“What did you just rub on my legs?” Leo asked, he took his arm from around her and sat up to touch his legs. “Why are my legs sticky?”

 

Karia sniffed the air loudly. “Hey Blue, you smell like pine”

 

Leo sighed.

 

“Yeah, doesn’t feel good does it?” she remarked.

 

* * *

May 21st, 2014 | 10:04 am

* * *

 “This is boring” Mikey announced.

 

“We know” Raph said without looking up from his comic book. Mikey was making...dirt angels? He was making dirt angels in the basement floor. After Leo told him not to because he would get dirty.

 

Doing some stretches in the corner Leo rolled his eyes. “The workers arrive twenty minutes ago Mikey” he said. “How are you already bored?”

 

“How can you ask that Leo?” Mikey whined before violently waggling his arms and legs harder into the dirt and gravel. “Hey Raph”

 

Raph didn’t respond.

 

“Raph”

 

* * *

May 21st, 2014 | 10:05:32 am

* * *

 “Raph”

 

* * *

May 21st, 2014 | 10:05:36 am

* * *

 “Raph”

 

* * *

May 21st, 2014 | 10:05:40 am

* * *

 “Raph”

 

* * *

May 21st, 2014| 10:05:44 am

* * *

 “Raph-”

 

“WHAT!? WHAT IS IT!?” Raph yelled throwing his comic book down as he launched himself out of his chair and on top of Mikey.

 

This didn’t seem to concern Mikey at all. “Raph, play Uno with me?” he asked the angry bulldog sitting on his chest.

 

“Seriously!?” Raph said at a loss for words. “No Mikey”

 

“But RAAAAAPPPPHHHH”

 

“ **Are you just ignoring this?** ” she asked as Leo continued to stretch with his eyes closed, a calm zen like expression on his face.

 

“ **With years of practice you too can learn how to tune out your younger siblings** ” he said calmly.

 

Their conversation was quickly zeroed in on by Mikey. “Leo-”

 

“No” he said immediately.

 

“I didn't even ask you anything!”

 

Leo hummed. “Were you going to ask me to play Uno?”

 

“...no”

 

Raph sighed.

 

“Okay, yes” he admitted.

 

Karai looked at them all like they were speaking backwards. “What's Uno?”

 

“YOU DON"T KNOW WHAT UNO IS!?” Mikey screamed pushing Raph off of him.

 

“I mean, one in Spanish?” she offered.

 

Mikey batted his hand at her. “No, okay yes, but, it's only the best card game ever!” he explained and both Leo and Raph groaned.

 

“You say tha’ about every card game”

 

Karai shrugged “How do you play?”

 

Mikey was practically jumping up and down. “Come on guys, Karai hasn't experienced-”

 

“-pure torture-” Raph muttered.

 

“-Uno. We have to play now!” He looked at his older brothers.

 

Leo made eye contact with Raph and there was some form of communication. A front against Uno being formed.

 

“I mean we would show her” Leo said a little too high pitched to be the truth. “But we don’t have a-”

 

Mikey pulled a pack labeled Uno out of...well Karai wasn’t sure.

 

“-deck” Leo finished taken off balance.

 

“Seriously!?” Raph yelled before looking Mikey up and down trying to recall where the hell he was keeping that.

 

“Come on” Mikey tried to rile them up. “There are two chairs and I'll sit on the stairs, and Karai doesn't have a butt so she doesn't need a chair- GUYS PLEASE I AM SO BORED I AM GOING TO DIE-”

 

“Alright!” Leo and Raph said at the same time.

 

“I swear” Raph mumbled under his breath to Leo “if this match lasts four hours like the last one...”

 

* * *

May 23rd, 2014 | 7:46 am

* * *

 “Are we running out of food again?” Casey asked looking at the breakfast table. “Why are we eating instant mashed potatoes for breakfast?”

 

“Because” Mikey said while scooping a glob of questionably smelling potatoes onto his plate “it’s all I could find in the pantry”

 

The look Raph was giving his plate was a mix of disgust and resignation. He took the first bite and made a face. “Why does it taste...sweet?”

 

“I used the powder and crumbs from the empty cereal boxes for flavoring” Mikey said unconcerned. This was normal for him apparently.

 

“Why?” Raph asked shocked beyond words.

 

Mikey gave him the universal “duh” look. “Because they're breakfast potatoes”

 

“ **Ah, of course, how foolish of us to ask** ” Karai muttered and Leo laughed under his breath.

 

“What did she just say?” Casey asked.

 

“I said that’s very creative” Karai smiled and took a bite of her breakfast potatoes. Trying not to gag, her success was debatable. “ **Essense of fruit loops** ”

 

Leo shook his head and pushed his potatoes around with his fork. “ **I’ll take your word for it** ” he muttered back.

 

“Would ya two knock’ tha-”

 

“CASEY JONES!” April yelled as she slammed the front door open.

 

Casey slump down in his seat a little bit. “Oh hey April...”

 

There was nothing but anger on April’s face as she entered the dining room.

 

“Breakfast potatoes?” he offered, gesturing to the crime against taste buds resting untouched in the center of the table.

 

“Did you draw an-” she paused. “Did you seriously draw a very detailed, I can’t even say this, why would you do that!?”

 

Casey shrugged. “No idea what you are talking about?”

 

At that moment Donnie entered the dining room and April looked like she was trying to back him out of the room before anyone could take notice of him.

 

“Coffee” the turtle said with dark circles under his barely opened eyes.

 

“Yes coffee” April said gently trying to push him out of the room. “Why don’t you sit down on the couch and I’ll bring you a-”

 

Lethargic brown eyes settled on the coffee maker and in a zombie like trance he started wading by them to the kitchen. April was unable to hold him back.

 

Raph saw the back of his shell first.

 

He left the room laughing.

 

“CASEY PAINTED A BUTT HOLE ON DONNIE’S SHELL!” Mikey shouted pointing at Donnie’s shell like they weren’t all staring are the same detailed painting of an anus. Easily one foot in diameter. Completely detailed, a wrinkled pucker with shadowing and everything.

 

Raph started laughing harder from the living room.

 

Crossing her arms April glared at Casey.

 

“What?” he said. “I waited until all workers were done!”

 

"Oh good because the painting would have been the shocking part about Donnie's appearance" Leo muttered not taking his eyes away from his brothers shell.

 

“That doesn’t make it all right!” April shot back.

 

Donnie finally turned back to face them, sparing them the view of the large daunting anus that only seemed to become bigger the longer one stared at it. A gross optical illusion. “Are you guys okay?” he asked.

 

Mikey jumped up and spun Donnie around causing a little bit of coffee to slosh out of his mug. He took out his T-Phone and took a picture before spinning Donnie back around and showing him the screen.

 

“That’s your eyeball” Donnie said unimpressed.

 

“What!?” Mikey said looking at the screen. “Aww man, why do my pictures keep turning out like this!?”

 

“Here” April took the phone and went behind Donnie who looked to be twenty percent more awake now. He looked at Aprils picture and then straight at Casey.

 

The teen wore a shit eating grin. Without moving a muscle on his face Donnie held the phone out in front of him, in his view they were side by side. He looked back forth between the picture and Casey.

 

“Nice self portrait Jones” he said before giving the phone back to Mikey and leaving the room.

 

Casey’s face fell in confusion then contorted in realization. Raph laughed even harder from the living room, again.

 

“Dude” Mikey said slowly. “Donnie has no chill”

 

“It wasn’t a self-” Casey sputtered.

 

“You just got annihilated” Mikey continued. “Air strike. No survivors”

 

April sat down in Raph’s abandoned chair and sighed.

 

“Is anyone who went to Lowe’s going to explain what happened at Lowe’s” Leo asked staring off into space, still recovering from Mega Anus.

 

“I told you we weren’t coming back the same” Karai said.

 

“We should watch Lake Placid tonight!” Mikey announced out of nowhere.

 

Everyone looked at him. “What?” April asked.

 

“Movies bring people together” Mikey explained. “Also it was the only movie you guys have that we haven’t watched, and it was in the outhouse of all places, so stop looking at me like suggesting we watch a movie is what’s weird about this situation”

 

The silence spoke volumes.

 

"Oh like you guys weren't thinking about outhouses the minute you saw that anus, right. I'm not the weird one here-"

 

“Whatever, movie sounds stupid, ya ask me” Raph snorted coming back into the dining room.

 

“It has Betty White in-”

 

Raph held up a hand. “You had me at Betty White” he said.

 

“ **Want to see a movie with me tonight?** ” Leo asked under his breath.

 

Karai shrugged. “ **Is it a date?** ”

 

“Ahh this is killing me, what are you two saying?” Mikey whined. “I need to learn Japanese!”

 

“Sensei was willing to teach all of us Mikey” Leo said. “But as I recall you complained it was boring”

 

“Well maybe if Splinter had mentioned that if I knew Japanese I could eavesdrop on Leo and his girlfriend in six years I would have stuck with it!”

 

Leo blinked. “You’re right, he probably should have started with that”

 

“Are you no longer denying that you two are boy-”

 

“What we need to worry about” Leo started cutting off Casey “is food. I’ll talk to Donnie about the van being fixed, and then we can work on stocking up on the essentials again”

 

“Amen to that” Raph said. “An’ then Lake Placid tonight”

 

“He has a soft spot for Betty White” Mikey whispered loudly to Karai as he left the dining room.

 

Raph didn’t deny it.

 

* * *

May 23rd, 2014 | 2:03 pm

* * *

They train in the morning up until lunch, and then again after dinner. Even though she wasn’t strictly required to do anything they did, she still found herself training with April.

 

She had to admit, the red head had potential. If the bruises on her stomach were anything to go by.

 

At this moment she was following Leo, casually, because Leo needed to find Donnie so they could talk about food. Donnie had so far been nowhere to be found. The barn was empty, except for a rusty truck and the party wagon. There was also something under a tarp. Most likely another vehicle of some kind, but the tarp it was covered in looked exactly like the one that had been covering the ship in the basement.

 

“Huh” Leo said quickly scoping out the barn. “Where the shell is he?”

 

“Maybe he’s with April?”

 

“He’ll be back here soon enough” Leo reasoned picking something up off the workbench. “He’s been in here for days”

 

Karai didn’t say anything, she slithered into the bed of the pickup truck and crossed her arms over the side of it. She rested her head there and sighed. “Or he’s with April and we’ll be stuck waiting here for hours”

 

“Do you have something better to do?” he asked, still looking at Donnie’s workbench. Crutch tucked in his armpit not really supporting his weight, it was just along for the ride.

 

She smiled. “I have date coming up, I should probably be picking out what I’m going to where or some shit”

 

He put the tool down slowly and turned to face her, a playful smile on his as he leaned back against the edge of the workbench. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

 

“You probably don’t know him. Short. Awkward. Definitely a nudist-” she quipped with a smile.

 

“None of those things sound very nice” he sassed back with fake offense.

 

“The last part is nice” she shrugged.

 

He cocked his head and drew his mouth into a tight line.

 

“Well, nice for me” she corrected, biting her bottom lip and dragging her eyes up and down his figure. Just to watch him squirm.

 

Leo blushed and started to say something but stopped. They both turned their heads to the sound of voices outside.

 

“Hide!” he whispered harshly while launching himself off the table.

 

“Where?”

 

“I-”

 

Karia slithered out of the truck bed and grabbed his hand pulling him towards the wall of the barn. “What kind of ninja are you?” she hissed.

 

“Me? We’re still out in the open!”

 

Karia put her hand over his mouth. “I’m thinking!”

 

Last minute she grabbed him and they both hit the ground between the barn was and the pickup with a grunt before scampering to get off each other. He scowled at her for throwing them on the floor and she rolled her eyes.

 

“It is strange to think about our enemies as more than just the people we see during fights” Donnie’s voice filtered in as he opened the door. Seemingly in response to someone else.

 

“I wonder how they spend their Saturday nights. I wonder if Fishface and Dogpound hang out and watch TV” Mikey mused right behind him.

 

“I wonder about their social interactions, if they have children, or had them before being mutated”

 

“How would that even work?” Mikey asked stopping in his tracks.

 

Donnie turned around. “How would what work?”

 

“Fishface and Dogpound… then children”

 

Leo put his hands over his face and then rubbed his temples a little.

 

“First of all whatever act you are trying to convey via hand motions, please stop” Donnie leveled. “Secondly, I meant do they have children separately. Families outside of The Foot.”

 

“Oh, that makes way more sense!” he exclaimed.

 

Donnie sputtered. “Then why did you think I meant it the other way?”

 

“What’s wrong with thinking it could have been the other way, huh?”

 

At this point Leo started mouthing “Why why why why”

 

“Nothing just…” Donnie tried then made some noises.

 

“Now look who’s making hand motions” Mikey reprimanded. “It’s 2014 Donnie, get with the times!”

 

“You know that’s not how I meant it and you’re getting off topic”

 

There was a beat of silence between the two. “I forgot the original question” Mikey admitted.

 

“The original question, or should I say mistake, was asking you to help me find my pressure sensor.” he deadpanned.

 

“Did we find it?”

 

“...no”

 

Mikey hums to that. “Okay, well glad I could help. I’m gonna go find Leo and ask him if he thinks Dogpound and Fishface could make it work... romantically.” He turned to leave, humming a beat as he left.

 

It sounded like Donnie slapped his own face. “You do that” he said even though Mikey was now out of ear shot.

 

“I can’t wait” Leo mouthed to her while looking up at the ceiling.

 

“Why you would ask Leo of all turt-” Donnie grumbled before deeply inhaling “-oh there you are! Can’t believe I left you out here all night!”

 

Karai gave Leo a questioning look. “Is he talking to his tools” she mouthed.

 

“There are worse things to talk to” he mouthed back.

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like Mikey, apparently”

 

“Are you two okay?” Donnie asked and both her and Leo whipped their heads around. Donnie had walked behind the pickup truck and was now looking directly at them with some form of amusement on his face.

 

“Uh” Leo started.

 

“Why are you two crouched back here?” he asked, twirling his pressure sensor in his hand. “Were you two spying on us?”

 

“No!” Leo quickly said. He used the side of the truck to help himself get up. “We were...” he looked to Karai.

 

She had already raised herself from her coil to be more at his height. “We-”

 

“Why are you two holding hands?” Donnie asked raising an eye ridge.

 

They both looked down at their hands. His left and her right as if it could be explained by staring at them. “My hand was cold” Leo said quickly.

 

Donnie gave him a look. “You’re cold blooded”

 

“Which is why my hand is cold” he responded his voice a little higher. Somewhere inside she sighed just to herself.

 

“You two are still holding hands” Donnie pointed out gesturing at their hands with his pressure sensor. Both their brains started working and they quickly ceased the hand holding.

 

“Aaaannnnyways” Leo said way too slowly. “I need to talk to you about the party wagon and groceries, which is why I came to the barn, to find you”

 

“Right” Donnie nodded while tapping the pressure sensor against his palm. “Well I’m headed into the basement if you two want to talk there”. He wasn’t buying the story, judging by how he was looking between them.

 

It was time to abandon ship.

 

“Actually” she interjected. “Now that Leo’s hand is... warm, I have some thing I need to do”. For emphasis she patted his shoulder and smiled right at him.

 

Leo swallowed but smiled right back. “Sounds good” he said through gritted teeth. _Don’t leave me alone with Donnie_ was what she really heard.

 

Deciding to doom him to his fate, she confidently slithered past Donnie and gave Leo a smirk behind his back. _Good luck_ her face said as she turned and left the barn.

 

“You need to turtle up and kiss her already” she heard Donnie say before she was out of ear shot.

 

She stifled a laugh. _It only you knew._

 

* * *

May 23rd, 2014 | 7:20 pm

* * *

Later that night after dinner, the dining room table was once again sacrificed for planning. This time instead of maps looking for Karai and Mikey, it was a map of New York.

 

The two eldest turtles, with lots of crayons and monopoly pieces began working on a plan. She wondered how many of her plans were literally foiled by Leo and Raph pushing random plastic figurines around while arguing. It was far from some of the plans she had been in on with The Shredder. Those were more like orders than they were plans. Yet what was going on here wasn’t really an order, it was Leo trying to convince Raph that his plan would work.

 

As she watched Raph very animatedly use his balled up fist to represent one of the Kraang’s two legged Robots, she realized even she couldn’t have predicted such cutting edge planning strategies.

 

“We need inside information, if we breach the containment zone without knowing what’s on the other side-”

 

“Oh, an’ wha’ will ya have us do? Just walk up ta the gate for a quick tour?-”

 

Her eyes had glazed over at one point, it seemed Raph and Leo could go back and forth for hours.

 

“No, but we do have some friends who might be in the city-”

 

Part of her wanted to speak up in Raph’s defense. A stealth mission into the city seemed like a bad idea, it didn’t sit right with her. She kept her mouth shut instead. It wasn’t really her place.

 

Raph slammed his open hand on the table and the little figurines all went up in the air a half inch. “Homeless people ain’t gonna be carrying around cellphones-”

 

She was about to say something but April beat her to it. “Homeless people?”

 

“They think we’re wearing costumes” Leo explained not taking his gaze of of Raph. “In a lot of ways they’re like our neighbors”

 

_And with the lack of people living in the city, handing out money, maintaining shelters, how many of your homeless friends managed to stay away from the Kraang?_

 

“I didn’t know homeless people lived in the sewer” April said sadly.

 

“Wait! We live in the sewers!” Mikey exclaimed suddenly, and everyone suddenly remembered he was also at the table, stacking dominoes in a row before toppling them over. “Leo are we homeless?”

 

“No, I mean, not-”

 

“Go ask Donnie, numskull” Raph barked and Mikey hurried off to find out their living status. “There, he’s Donnie’s problem now”

 

She wondered for a moment how much of what Mikey had just done was real. Or if he needed and excuse to go check on Donnie.

 

Leo rolled his eyes. “Back to this then. No strike until we know what we’re getting into. But-” he held up a hand in surrender as Raph opened his mouth “-we won’t run a stealth mission, not until we have more resources. Maybe Donnie can get a message to the city?”

 

“You were the last one out of the city weren’t you?” April asked her. It was the first time since being invited to their little dining room meeting that anyone had addressed her. Leo kind of just huddled her in the room the same way he did his brothers and April. “What was it like?”

 

Karai grimaced. “I saw was a lot of people being taken, and when I ran I only ever came across mutated people yet to be picked up”. _And those who allied themselves with The Shredder._ Another thought hit her and she regretted having it. _I took notes._ _I had Kraang patrol times, I memorized certain beep patterns and knew what they meant. It was how I survived before coming to the farmhouse._ “Uh” she blanked out. “The last person I saw was Ivan and Zech, but I guess that’s because they had a deal with The Shredder and The Shredder has an arrangement with Kraang. Everyone else was gone.”

 

“You don’ think they took all of New York do ya?”

 

“That’s...that’s over eight million people” April said.

 

No one said anything for a moment. Eight million people. Gone. She looked down at the table, at the sprawling map of New York City. Was it really up to them to save eight million people?

 

“That’s another concern, when we take back the city, we still need to find out where the citizens have been this whole time” Leo said. He picked up a pencil off the table. “I know we don’t want to run a stealth mission, but knowing where the innocent people are before we bust down the gates might be in our best interest”

 

Raph huffed aggressively. “An’ if we fail we give away our trump card”

 

“We have to approach this as if the Kraang have eight million hostages” Leo argued. “We can’t risk eight million lives just for the chance that maybe taking them by surprise will be the deciding factor. We have to be better than just unexpected”

 

_That is assuming they’re still alive._

 

Mikey ran back into the dining room.

 

“What’s the verdict?” Raph asked as he fixed the stack of dominoes that was supposedly representing the barrier around the city.

 

“Uh they’re gone, bro”

 

Leo’s head snapped up. “Gone?” he repeated. “What does that mean?”

 

“It means they’re gone Leo!” Mikey hollered and grabbed his own skull. “And the party wagon is too!”

 

Immediately they all knew that meant Casey and Donnie were taking on the Speed Demon by themselves.

 

The barn was indeed missing the Party Wagon, but there was a new vehicle next to a crumpled up tarp that looked like a race car.

 

“THEY MADE A HOT ROD!” Raph yelled with hearts in his eyes. “AND THEY DIDN’T TELL ME!?”

 

“Focus!” Leo ordered. “Does anyone know where they’re headed?”

 

“I’ll let ya know when I find ‘em!” Raph said from the inside of the new vehicle.

 

“Wait we can’t just-” Leo tried but Raph revved the engine and peeled out of the barn barely missing the door frame. “Or yeah just go after them with no plan...” he groaned.

 

“Wait!” April tried to say before all the wheels came off and flew behind him towards the woods “...Donnie said Casey hadn’t secured the wheels yet” she finished with a sigh realizing it was too late.

 

“Ha” Mikey laughed. “Raph pulled a Mikey!”

 

Raph growled and launched himself out on the vehicle towards Mikey.

 

“Mercy!” he yelped running away from him. “Raph! Mercy!”

 

As Raph chased Mikey around to the other side of the farmhouse the party wagon started crawling up the driveway. Smoke was coming out from under the hood, and both front wheels wobbled due to the severely bent rims.

 

“Oh my God” April gasped running up to the van.

 

The driver’s side door opened and Donnie stumbled out. “I can’t believe it!” he exclaimed. “What the shell is that guy made of!?”

 

Casey hopped out of the passengers side and immediately started kicking the ground. “I told you I should have been the one to drive!” he rounded on Donnie. “But no you had to insist-”

 

“-the last time you drove we had to get towed! At least I got us back here in one piece!” Donnie retorted just as the front bumper fell clean off. Casey pointed at it and raised his eyebrows.

 

Feeling the beginnings of a fight Leo stepped between the two. “What were you two thinking!?” he scolded. “Going out there alone?”

 

“Getting groceries!” Donnie said still staring daggers at Casey. “And then that...that crazy driver came after us, the Speed Demon-”

 

“-attacked us just like he attacked last time-” Casey interrupted.

 

Donnie rolled his eyes. “Leo, the Speed Demon, it isn’t some crazy guy, it’s a mutant”

 

“So you went after it without a plan?” Leo asked. “What happened to staying on the back roads? We don’t need anymore fights”

 

“It’s a mutant!” Casey and Donnie said at the same time.

 

April sighed. “How is there another mutant out here?”

 

“I don’t know” Donnie said turning back to the van and opening the back. “But we’re going to take him down, he has a complete monopoly over the roads out here”

 

“Yeah man, it’s up to Casey Jones to take him down” Casey announced puffing out his chest. “No one terrorizes 28N on my watch”

 

Donnie guffawed. “Seriously Jones? You think you can take down Speed Demon all by yourself?” he taunted now holding two grocery bags in his arms. “As if”

 

“You wanna bet turtle boy-”

 

“Guys” Leo interrupted again. “No one is going after Speed Demon without a plan-”

 

“Why?” Donnie asked suddenly. “Do you think I’m incapable of making a plan that actually works?”

 

“No” Leo said immediately. “Look what this Speed Demon did to the party wagon, we need a plan”

 

Donnie frowned. “Casey and I can take down the Speed Demon, ourselves. We don’t need you to tell us how to take down some mutant”. With that he turned to walk towards the farmhouse with the groceries, a peeling piece of art still on the back of his shell.

 

“Yeah Leo” Casey added grabbing as many bags as he could carry in one trip. “It’s just a mutant car, we got this”

 

Leo rubbed his temples.

 

“They made you and the Speed Demon into a common enemy” Karai pointed out, mostly just to annoy him.

 

“Thanks, I had already figured that out” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was 15,000 words, so I cut it in half around the 7000 word mark. The second half is almost done. It's one scene away from being done so I will have that out real soon, I promise. 
> 
> Thanks for all the support everyone. <3 I hope 2019 is treating everyone well.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Casey Jones and Hamato Donatello take on the Speed Demon but only one of them will speak in the third person about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings/Reminders  
>  **bolded words** = spoken Japanese

* * *

May 23rd, 2014 | 9:36 pm 

* * *

Lake Placid was a very bad movie. The mystery of why it was in the outhouse was solved as far as Karai was concerned.

 

The idea of bringing them all together to watch the movie failed. Raph wanted to "touch" the "wicked new car" in the barn and April was scrubbing Donnie’s shell in the upstairs bathroom. The paint was flaking off and little pink pieces of dandruff were getting on everything.

 

It was just Mikey, Leo and herself. As the credits played they both looked at the armchair Mikey jumped up from.

 

“Alright who’s ready for the sequel!” he asked excitedly.

 

“They made a sequel?” Leo asked astounded.

 

Mikey nodded. “I’ll go get it! Be right back!”

 

Leo and Karai looked at each other. “Run?” he asked.

 

“Run” she agreed and they both got up and headed out the backdoor. On his way out the door he propped his crutch against the house and they quickly without a noise walked into the woods.

 

“I can’t see anything”

 

“Here” she took his hand. “I know where we can go”

 

“Where?”

 

“You’ll see” she said playfully, leading him through the untamed wilderness.

 

It wasn’t long before they reached the gravel beach on the lake. Without the trees blocking out the moonlight it was a lot brighter. The lake was calm and perfectly reflected the night sky.

 

She dropped his hand and watched him take in the lake, letting his eyes adjust. “Thank goodness the moon is out, I can kind of see-”

 

She stripped off her shirt and tossed it back away from the shore, then she slung her bra right on top of her crumpled shirt before slithering out into the lake. “You coming?” she asked, the water was barely two feet deep where she was, she wondered how well he could see her right then. Judging by the way he was just standing there frozen she reasoned he was getting a good view. “Or are you just going to stand there with your mouth open” she laughed.

 

Backing into the lake until the water was up to her neck she watched Leo as he jolted into action, stripping off his elbow pads and knee pads. The only thing he didn’t tear off himself was his katanas, he carefully placed them on top of the pile of gear.

 

He waded out to her until they were both up to there necks in water. He placed his hands on the small of her waist, and she grabbed the front of his shell pulling him into a kiss. “I have a question” she told him.

 

“I might have an answer” he said back. Kissing wasn't a big deal anymore, the first one shattered the glass ceiling and the rest were easy. He didn't hesitate with his movements and they both knew how to read each other, when to pull away or press harder.

 

“Why did we hide in the barn earlier?”

 

He cocked his head. “That’s a good question” he said after a moment. They were pressed up against each other, she wondered how much he could feel. Was the front part of his shell like a bone or like cartilage. “I guess it’s hard to think clearly when you’re around” he said way too smoothly. It made her spine tingle.

 

“Is that so?” she asked, gently raking her nails down the front of his shell, a little noise escaped from the back of his throat.

 

He grabbed her hands and pulled them back up before she could go much lower than where his belt normally rested. “It is, so what’s your excuse then?”

 

“I was caught up in the view” she said playfully. 

 

“Really?” he asked skeptically.

 

She paused. “What do you mean really?” she asked.

 

“Karai, I’m a giant turtle” he said seriously pushing back through the water and gesturing to himself. “What view are you talking about?”

 

“The one I’m looking at right now” she said without missing a beat. He rolled his eyes.

 

“I’m being serious” he said.

 

“So am I”. She closed the distance again and slithered over to him through the water. “Do you think I’m just pretending to find you attractive?”

 

Leo didn’t answer. Something akin to anger stirred around in her brain.

 

“Oh, so because you have self esteem issues I must be what, faking this?” she snapped backing away from him a little. No longer feeling very friendly.

 

“No”. He rubbed his face in frustration. “I think you can like me, without being attracted to me, you don’t have to pretend I’m not a freak just to make me feel better”.

 

It was her turn to roll her eyes. “You’re not a freak”

 

“I literally am” he argued. “I’m not even human to begin with, Karai. Why would someone like you ever find me attractive?”

 

She stayed silent, not knowing what to say. He kept staring at her expecting a response. “Who am I then?”

 

“What?”

 

“You said someone like me. What does that mean. Who’s someone like me?”

 

“Normal” he stated.

 

She laughed. “Normal? Are you blind, I’m a mutant now too Leo”

 

“You’re still a human, for the most part” he said quietly. “You’ve seen what mutagen can do to people right? Your dad became a giant rat, Bradford became a deformed dog, Xever a huge fish. We knew a kid who literally became jello with his organs suspended in it”

 

“What are you trying to say?” she asked lowly, not liking where he was going. “That I’m fucking lucky or something?”

 

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Karai. You’re not insane, you’re still beautiful. You have no legs but you can still move and function. Are you saying you aren’t lucky?” he shot back.

 

“So because I’m not horrendously deformed, I’m too good for you?” she hissed. “I’m just normal enough that I couldn’t possibly find you attractive?”

 

“Are you seriously still trying to convince me that you aren’t just saying these things to be nice?”

 

“When have I ever done something to be nice?” Karai asked.

 

Leo shut his mouth.

 

“Exactly”. She swallowed back the tightness in her throat. “I’m not lying to you when I make those comments”

 

Leo stared at her and she stared back. “I can never tell when you’re telling the truth Karai”

 

That hurt. She took a deep breath and set her jaw.

 

“We don’t get a happy ending, we don’t get the girl at the end of the story. Freaks stay with freaks or they die alone. That’s reality” he said sadly.

 

“Then I guess I’m a freak” she said stiffly. “Because I was attracted to you the day I first saw you”

 

He didn’t say anything but his face softened and he broke eye contact.

 

It was her opportunity to get close to him again. “I’m naked” she stated.

 

His eyes darted down and then back up to her. “I know”.

 

“With you” she added.

 

“Yes”

 

“Do you want to know how many times I have thought about us skinny dipping?”

 

“You’ve thought about it?” he asked uncertainly.

 

“My point is...” she said said holding onto his upper arms. “Do you really think I would drag you out here, strip off all my clothes and beckon you into this lake if I wasn’t going to get something out of it?”

 

His hands were brushing against the back of her arms, they were both bobbing a little bit with the current. “Alright” he admitted. “You might have a point”

 

“I do have a point, so shut up and kiss me” she said throwing her arms around him. They caused a small wave when they crashed together. His hands rested around her back and she used the fact that she could be taller than him at will to gain a few inches, pressing a kiss down on him for once. She slid her hands from his sides up his shell and neck and cradled his head. Holding them together while he pulled her closer, letting his hands rest on her ribs and back.

 

They break apart and that tension is gone. “I’m still not used to all this” he said after they catch their breath.

 

“Me either”. She traced the top edge of his shell with her finger, maintaining a little of the height she gathered during their kiss. The way his arm twitches tells her he can feel it. “I’ve never done this before. I’ve never had a relationship”

 

“Really?” he asked, looking slightly up at her. Her bare breast pressed against his chest, his hand still pressed against her back. The water was cold but she felt warm.

 

“Not one that wasn’t an order” she said.

 

He grimaced but didn’t comment. Probably because the last time he offered her sympathy for doing her job she kicked him off a roof. (He landed on his feet). She smiled, that hadn’t been a great week.

 

“I just remembered something” Leo said breaking their moment. “There’s a dead guy in this lake”

 

 _Oh yeah._ “I was wondering why we hadn’t gone to the lake in weeks” Karai said looking around them as if the dead man would float up and greet them.

 

“Maybe we should get out” he said.

 

“I mean...it’s not like he’s going to see anything”

 

He gave her a horrified look.

 

“I was kidding!” she said laughing.

 

“I can never tell with you!”

 

She brought her tail above the water and splashed him.

 

“Hey” he yelled wiping water out of his eyes. She used the opportunity to head towards the shore. “No fair”

 

“What can I say” she called back. "I play dirty"

 

* * *

May 26th, 2014 | 10:35 am

* * *

Raph and Leo sparred with a vengeance now that Leo was walking less and less with his crutch, even though he still favored his one leg.

 

“Come on Raph” he yelled causing her and April to look over from their not as intense training.

 

Raph blocked with his sais but Karai saw the obvious. Maybe April or Casey wouldn’t, but Raph wasn't taking the opportunity to kick at Leo’s legs, even though in his current stance it would be the smartest move.

 

The red masked turtle grimaced, but continued to not take the obvious opening. Leo scowled and did though, he kicked Raph’s legs out from under him and sent the turtle on his back. “Why are you pulling your punches” Leo demanded, standing over Raph.

 

“I’m not aiming for your leg that’s a cheap shot an’ ya know it” he said flipping up onto his feet.

 

Leo frowned deeper. “How is it a cheap shot? I haven’t touched my crutch in a week” he exclaimed as Raph got up. “My leg is fine now”. To emphasize he did a jack squat. “See?”

 

Raph cracked his neck and spun his sais. “Fine Leo, have it your way, not tha' I really wanted to humiliate ya in front of your girlfriend”

 

He rolled his eyes and laughed. “That’s right, get angry” Leo said raising his katanas.

 

The fight began, leaving April, Mikey and herself as the unintentional audience. This time Raph didn’t hold back, and it looked like he was holding back more than just hits to the leg. He managed to get one katana away from Leo, the longer one, his Daitō. Leo was more than adequate at fighting with one sword so he continued on easily. Soon it is over when Raph caught his wrist and hurled Leo over his shell onto the grass knocking all the wind out of him.

 

“That better?” Raph asked crossing his arms while looking down at Leo.

 

“Still didn’t go for the legs” Leo wheezed out in response.

 

Raph smirked. “Proving a point” he said before walking away. “Mikey, you’re next”

 

He ran over to Leo before following Raph. “You just got spanked” he said crouching down next to Leo.

 

“Thanks for the update Mikey”

 

Mikey ran off to spar with Raph while Leo seemed content with dying on the lawn.

 

The two ladies turned back to each other. “I think I am going to see if I can drag Donnie out of that barn” she said voice wavering a little.

 

“That’s not gonna happen” Karai supplied. “But I will come with to watch you fail.”

 

The red head dropped her shoulders. “You’re a real friend”

 

“I know” she replied lamely.

 

A week since there unintentionally very not unnoticed trip to Lowe’s, the farmhouse was almost in better condition than when they had arrived.

 

Okay no it wasn’t but April knew not to say otherwise since morale was threatening to become an endangered species.

 

Inside the barn was truly a strange sight, two boys hunched over a wooden desk talking very excitedly.

 

“We need rocket launchers”

 

“What do you take me for? Of course there will be rocket launchers!”

 

That was all they heard before April coughed trying to announce their presence. “Guys? Maybe take a break sometime soon?”. Neither Donnie nor Casey acknowledged them, they were completely enveloped in their own world. If that world was littered with cans of energy drinks and blurry photos of a car speeding down a road. All that was missing was a road map, some thumb tacks, and red yarn connecting it all together.

 

She turned to Karai. “Should I be worried?”

 

Karai shrugged.

 

“I feel like Casey is a maniac and Donnie has no lines on what he will or will not put on a war vehicle”

 

She took a glance around the barn and saw a larger circular saw on a robotic arm, a lot of toasters (one suspiciously looked like the one from the farmhouse). It seemed the two boys were taking a lot of scavenging trips to nearby dumps. They would have to avoid main roads to do so, but that just made it harder, not impossible.

 

“You gotta compartmentalize April” she said calmly. “Figure out exactly what battles you are going to pick”

 

Both boys cackled, holding up a chainsaw that looked like it was going to be mounted perpendicular to something. They hurried over to the party wagon, that was now indistinguishable from its original form.

 

“At least they seem to have no hard feelings over what happened at the store?” April suggested. “But I kind of miss seeing my boyfriend”

 

They left the barn but continued their conversation.

 

“Speaking of boyfriends...” April continued nonchalantly as she could. “You and Leo… any uh, development?”

 

“No idea what you are talking about” Karai replied evenly. They both walked (well she slithered) over to where Leo was still lying on his shell in the grass, one katana in hand the other a few feet away sticking out of the earth. Leo looked up at them but didn’t say anything. “You got your ass kicked”

 

“I’ve been told” Leo responded.

 

“Up for round two?” she asked knowing full well April was observing this interaction like a hawk. “I’ll aim for your legs”

 

His eyes widened in fear. “Uh” he started “I think I’m just going to rest a little longer, here, in the grass-”

 

“Uh huh”

 

“-training all morning-”

 

“Of course”

 

“-maybe uh after lunch?”

 

Karai nodded. “Sure thing, you just lay here for a bit, yeah?”

 

Leo nodded.

 

“Yeah”

 

“Not because you are actually in pain or anything, just relaxing” she added gesturing to his whole body with her finger.

 

He nodded and gave her a smile full of teeth. “Yep, just relaxing” he confirmed.

 

“In that case” she slithered right over the top of his shell and he grunted as she passed. “I’ll see you later”

 

“Yep” he wheezed out. “Sounds good”

 

April stepped around Leo giving him a sympathetic look, and caught up with her. “You’re a jerk sometimes” she sighed.

 

“Excuse me?” Karai responded full of hurt. “I’ll have you know I’m a jerk all the time”

 

“I thought you liked him?” April pressed as they entered the kitchen. “Why are you being mean to him?”

 

“You do realize a year ago we were actively trying to kill each other” she said dully. “Look I took your advice”

 

April gave her that look that should only be reserved for disgruntled retail managers.

 

“No really, I did”

 

She regarded Karai sceptically. “Is that why you two suddenly sometimes say things in Japanese?”

 

Karai smiled but side stepped the question. “You said we’ve been dating for awhile...so we just decided to keep acting like we always have”

 

“That’s not what I meant” April tried before giving up. “I can’t keep doing this anymore, you two are weird”

 

_Oh, if only she knew._

 

* * *

May 26th, 2014 | 11:45 am

* * *

Leo peeled himself off the lawn an hour later so she went to investigate.

 

“You want to fight me?” she offered. “I feel kind of rusty, maybe you could beat me?”

 

He was not amused. That made it better. “Funny” he said drawing his weapon and taking a steadying breath. She unsheathed her Wakizashi. Normally she didn’t have it on her, but with all the training going on it was easier to get back in the habit.

 

“No Daitō, only your Shōtō” she added “Let’s make it interesting”

 

“ **Want to make it more interesting**?” he asked as he put his longer katana away so they were both fighting with a shorter sword.

 

Raph groaned because they were speaking in Japanese, his irritation almost made her laugh. “ **A wager**?”

 

He smiled. “ **Yeah** ”

 

“ **If I win, you sneak out with me tonight** ” she offered and Leo mulled it over.

 

He nods very discreetly. “ **And if I win...a kiss**?”

 

“ **In front of everyone**?” she asked. 

 

“ **Yes** ”

 

She smiled. “Alright, see you tonight”. The statement confused their audience but it’s quickly disregarded.

 

Of course she didn’t immediately go for the legs. Call it playing with her food but she wanted to see how well he could do with her dashing around him, it was also good practice for her. Learning to fight without being able to jump over strikes. However she wasn’t going to let him win.

 

If he won, then the jig was up on them being something. It wasn’t until after she went for his legs and sent him on his back that she realized he made the bet so she wouldn’t throw the match.

 

“See Leo, we ain’t ready for New York stealth mission, not yet” Raph asserted after the match.

 

“You mean I’m not ready” Leo muttered.

 

They all made noises trying to disagree but no one had a counter argument. Raph helped Leo up and they headed inside. “ **I’m going to say some nonsense things and go far a walk** ”

 

“ **I will respond with some nonsense** ” Leo responded.

 

“Seriously? What the heck are you guys saying to each other?” Raph asked as she slithered away from them.

 

“Just confessing our undying love for each other” she replied over her shoulder.

 

“Reciting romantic poetry” Leo added.

 

Raph rolled his eye. “Right”

 

* * *

May 26th, 2014 | 6:10 pm

* * *

Sometimes Karai forgets the turtles are all related until they do something that can only be described as “why?” and can be answered with the word “brothers”.

 

In the living room that night, all of them eating on their laps because the dining room table was a diorama of New York City, Mikey out of nowhere tapped his fork on his glass and they all looked at him. He held up a single finger and hit his chest with his other hand and letting out the longest burp Karai has ever heard. It’s deep, phlegm speckles out, how is there that much air inside anyone she isn’t sure.

 

The turtles look from one another nodding their heads like Mikey just asked a question, or said something profound.

 

They all fucking clapped.

 

“It was strong the whole time” Leo pointed out and Raph and Donnie nod.

 

“Good tone too” Raph remarked around a mouthful of food.

 

“I think I got some saliva on my face” Donnie seemed impressed for some reason as he wiped his cheek.

 

“Nice one Mikey!” they all said and their little brother positively beamed with praise.

 

Casey Jones was gagging into his napkin, she made a mental note not to breathe through her nose for awhile. Raph and Mikey high five and the turtles resume eating while Karai looked at April who seemed disgusted but doesn’t say anything.

 

“Did I mention I had to live with them for a while” she asked and Karai shuddered. “Yeah” April deadpanned.

 

* * *

May 26th, **2013** | 7:00 pm

* * *

“Tomorrow we will take a private jet back to Tokyo” he stated sipping his rice wine. “My little girl, seventeen” he added with a smile.

 

“Sounds wonderful, father” she said careful to guard her face.

 

The dinner was private between them. A solitary waiter served them for the occasion since her father bought out the entire restaurant. Tiger Claw and a few masked Foot Soldier sat several tables away playing cards. “How is the mission to infiltrate the rat’s home going, surely you have earned that monster’s trust?”

 

Carefully she cut into her steak before setting her knife down to answer “He doesn’t trust me completely” she said before continuing to eat. Her father’s eye drilled into her. Somehow his presence was more looming without the mask.

 

He hummed. “Leonardo, Hamato Yoshi’s golden boy” he said softly to himself. “Tell me daughter what would be better? Killing him in front of the rat, or maybe offering him to trade one of his other pets for his favorite?”

 

“I’m sure either would send the message” Karai said tightly.

 

“Or maybe, having you kill the teacher’s pet would be the worst” he laughed low and ragged. “Yes, are you getting close to the creature?”

 

“Yes, he is very fond of me”

 

“Good” his face twisted in satisfaction “You always do what is required of you, Karai”

 

“Thank you, father” she said quietly.

 

They continued dinner in silence, her father lost in thoughts of revenge.

 

* * *

May 26th, 2014 | 10:53 pm

* * *

Mr. Tubbs wasn’t looking so great these days. He was more lethargic and he had refused food twice. It also seemed he didn’t want to be touched as he would move away from her hand as she scooped up bark instead of rising up and striking at her for invading his space. After kicking Leo's shell she went hunting, she spent an embarrassing amount of time finding a fish that was smaller than what she usually got for him. Maybe swallowing something smaller would be more appealing. She was starting to wish that in her rush to leave the city she had grabbed one of the many books about snake care. They were next to the tank, she never bothered to open them.

 

Tonight was a waiting game. They were both waiting for everyone to go to bed. She was killing time by looking at Mr. Tubbs while Leo was slowly squatting on one leg, his bad leg. As she had guessed the one legged squat Leo showed Raph was a fluke, because right then he was doing jack squats that didn’t go down nearly as far before he sucked air through his teeth. When he gave up on that he popped his head into the hall and then back into their room with a sigh.

 

“I think Raph and Mikey are still in the living room” he said.

 

She nodded but kept her eyes on Mr. Tubbs.

 

“You know” he started. “You still haven’t said exactly what we are doing tonight”

 

“Where would be the fun in that?” she asked and she could feel the deadpan stare before she turned around to witness it.

 

“I’m still going to go if you tell me”

 

“Of course, because I won” she said unimpressed with his argument.

 

He walked over to her and glance down at the tank. “Is he any better?”

 

She shrugged. “I don’t know”

 

“Is there anything we can do for him?”

 

“It doesn’t matter. It’s just a snake” she said, retracting her hand from the enclosure and putting the screen lid back in place.

 

Leo gave her a look. “Why do you do that?”

 

“Do what?”

 

“Pretend you don’t care about anything” he said.

 

She opened her mouth to say something but realized there was no real solid argument against what he said.

 

“It’s okay to feel sad or worried if your pet isn’t okay” he continued. “And don’t tell me you don’t care about him because I heard you talking to him while I was in the shower earlier, your voice carries”

 

Her cheeks feel a little warm and he smirked knowing he pinned her on this. “Fine I do care, you caught me”

 

“Was that so hard?”

 

“I think I died a little inside”

 

* * *

May 26th, **2013** | 9:30 pm

* * *

Dresses were never her favorite thing to wear. Impractical, no form of protection. She needed to change, and then shred this awful burgundy dress. It had padded cups and a lace window on her chest. She despised it’s very existence but her father liked it. Brought out the brown in her eyes he said. So the limo ride back from dinner in a skin tight dress wasn’t pleasant. Her father took up the entire seat across from her, he sucked all the oxygen out of the compartment.

 

“While in Toyko we will visit your mother’s grave” he told her. “It is a shame your mother isn’t here to see you Karai, she would be very proud of you”

 

“Thank you for saying so”

 

He stared at her for a moment. “We will honor her memory by defeating Hamato Yoshi”

 

“Yes, father”

 

“No matter the cost”

 

She nodded numbly.

 

“Are you prepared to kill them all?” he asked lowly. “For what they have done to our family?”

 

“Of course father” she said without wavering. “I’ve trained my whole life to avenge my mother’s death”

 

“And when the time comes will you kill Leonardo?” he asked. “Or have you become attached to your little freak?”

 

She felt her heart speed up. “Nothing will get in my way” she states maintaining eye contact. “Leonardo is a means to an end”.

 

The phone in the limo rang and her father studied the screen. “Forgive me Karai, but this is important” he answered the phone and started speaking in Japanese to the person on the other end. It was the boring end of business, she tuned it out and looked out the heavily tinted windows. They passed a museum that caught Karai’s eye. It was on 53rd Street.

 

_Normal people go to museums on their birthdays, they don’t spend all day next to their father, wondering if he’d snap._

 

The phone call lasted the whole way back to the lair. Karai bid her father goodnight and headed to her room. Looking in the mirror she saw a stranger, a role, she kicked a high heel off her foot sending it twirling through the air. It hit the wall and the heel broke off.

 

Doesn’t matter, her father will buy her a new pair. Designer, authentic, shipped from some exotic country. She put on her armor, attached her weapons… a rush of relief washed over her. There was something therapeutic about painting her lips blood red and brushing on dark eye liner. This is who she really is, loud, unforgiving. She needed to run until she couldn’t feel anything.

 

That’s how she left the base that night. Out the bathroom window and into the unfamiliar. New York was still too big, she would never know every crevice, but she knew where to find trouble.

 

* * *

May 27th, 2014 | 12:35 am

* * *

“So I guess harvestmen-”1

 

“What are harvestmen?” she asked. They were walking towards the next smallest town. It was a good two hour walk away, but so far Leo hadn’t questioned why they were walking for so long.

 

He thought on it. “They’re daddy long legs”

 

“What?”

 

“Those spiders with really thin legs and their bodies are the size of a pea” he tried again.

 

“Oh, wait why are they called daddy long legs?” she asked.

 

“I don’t know, I didn’t name them”

 

“I mean...it sounds kinky”

 

He sighed. “Why did you have to go there?”

 

She laughed. “Fine, continue on then with your story”

 

“So anyways, they bundle up for warmth or something. Well Mikey found this very entertaining because he found out that he could pick them up without them separating. So he gently tossed a big ball of them on Raph. Later he told me that he though Raph would catch the ball, realize that it was a ball of spiders, squeal and then drop it.

 

That didn’t happen though. The force of impact caused them to separate and they all crawled down him in a disgusting waterfall of spiders. Raph is very phobic about bugs and spiders so he started trying to wipe them off of himself all while screaming at us to get them off. He knocked over the buckets of guts we had already scraped up but eventually he ran out of the barn and started rolling around on the lawn”

 

“So how is Mikey still alive?” she asked, trying to remember if when they returned from Lowe’s if Mikey had been sporting any new bruises.

 

Leo grimaced. “Uh, we decided to just say they fell from the roof. Mikey finished cleaning the barn, and I cleaned Raph off”

 

She gave him a look.

 

“He was covered in crushed spiders that he was too scared to touch so I just turned the hose on high and power washed him.”

 

“You power washed your brother?”

 

“He would have done the same for me” Leo said without a doubt. “Now I told what happened while you were at Lowe’s, now you tell me what happened at the store between Donnie and Casey”

 

Karai shook her head. “I said I might tell you depending on how good your story was”

 

“Was it not good? It was a prank gone wrong, millions of spider lives were lost” he lamented.

 

“Exactly, a tragedy. What happened at the store was a story of love and war. Nothing compares” she said back mocking his tone. “And beside that we’re here”

 

It was the old shop she had accompanied April and Casey to a few times. In April’s words “it was the kind of store that had peanut butter or jelly.”

 

What Karai was most interested in was the payphone behind the building. “Alright, come on” she said slithering to the phone.

 

“Wait this is really lit up” he pointed out but Karai was already at the phone. She picked up the receiver and heard the automated voice asking her to insert her money. “No one is out here, and you have a hoodie”.

 

“Oh you’re right, that totally disguises me” he deadpanned but he walked over to her and leaned up against the back of the building keeping his eyes on a swivel. “Who are you calling anyways?”

 

She put her quarters in and dialed. The buttons were stiff but she manged. “A friend of mine” she said unconcerned. “I just hope she’s around to take a call”

 

“Why wouldn’t she?”

 

“It’s mid afternoon in Japan, she might be busy”

 

“Japan-”

 

“ _ **Hello?**_ ” Karai held up her hand and Leo stopped talking, but he didn’t stop looking skeptical.

 

“ **Shini? It’s Karai** ” she said clutching the receiver tightly. It was nice to hear her friend's voice after so long.

 

“ _ **KARAI!**_ ”

 

She yanked the phone away from her ear with a wince. Leo also look a step back.

 

“ _ **How are you! Are you coming to Tokyo soon! I haven’t heard from you in so long I feared I missed your phone call yesterday-**_ ”

 

“ **Shini!** ” she interrupted. “ **I don’t have a lot of time** **to talk** ”

 

“ _ **Alright, what’s going on dear?**_ ”

 

“ **I’m not going to Tokyo this year for my birthday, something has ….** **something’s** **come up.** ”

 

“ _ **Problems with your father’s business?**_ ”

 

Leo cocked his head but didn’t interrupt. “ **Yes, something like that. If he does contact you, don’t let him know you heard from me** ”

 

“ _ **What’s going on?**_ ”

 

“ **A lot, I, it turns out he’s not really my dad, and he actually killed my mom and now I live-** **I live at my friend’s house. I can’t tell you where but I’m safe** ” she said. Leo continued to watch her make the phone call. Probably wondering exactly why she dragged him out here so she could do this in front of him. “ **I can’t tell you everything, not over the phone** ”

 

“ _ **Okay…**_ _ **do you want to catch up then? I am not doing anything right now. How is New York, I’ve always wanted to go**_ ”

 

“ **It’s good, big, easy to get lost** ”

 

“ _ **I’m trying to remember where we left off last time, oh what was his name-**_ ”

 

Shini was still yelling into the speaker so of course Leo heard this and whipped his head towards her. _Someone’s protective._

 

“ _ **-was it Leroy? I feel like it was Leroy-**_ ”

 

“ **His name was Leo** ” she said as she watched Leo straighten up a little but he stopped staring at her like she’d insulted his form during training.

 

“ _ **Leo!**_ ” Shini cooed. “ _ **Did you ever ask him ou-**_ ”

 

“ **Shini!** ”

 

“ _ **What?**_ ” she asked not understanding the problem. “ _ **As I recalled last time you didn’t really**_ _ **describe**_ _ **him and sweetheart I am a visual person**_ _ **so either start talking or send me a photo or something. You can’t just throw out words like caring and mature and chiseled muscles without a photo-**_ ”

 

She sighed. There was very little she could do to prevent Leo over hearing this and he was getting smugger by the second. “I like her” he mouthed barely above a whisper.

 

“ **Would you like to talk to him?** ” Karai asked suddenly and she basked in the way Leo’s eyes widened in horror.

 

“ _ **Put him on put him**_ _ **on put him on-**_ ” she held the phone out to him.

 

He shook his head. “No way” he mouthed. She waggled the phone and he groaned before taking it. She slithered back from the payphone and let him stand closer to it.

 

“ _ **-put him on put-**_ ”

 

“ **Hello** ” he said as politely as he could.

 

“ _ **Is this Leo?**_ ”

 

“ **Yes** ”

 

“ _ **What do you smell like?**_ ”

 

The look Leo gave her was priceless. “ **Uh..** ”

 

“ _ **I am kidding**_ ”

 

“ **Oh, uh, good because I’m not sure I could say** ”

 

“ _ **Leo Leo Leo**_ ” Shini breathed out. “ _ **I do not care about you at all. I don’t care what you smell like, or what you look like or where you’ve been or who you think you are. Know this. Process it. File it away in your permanent memory**_ ”

 

“ **Uh** ” Leo swallowed. She wondered if he still liked Shini.

 

“ _ **I only care about Karai**_ ” Shini drawled on. “ _ **She is my best friend. You understand this?**_ ”

 

“ **Yes** **-** ”

 

“ _ **Wrong. You simply cannot. I will let this slide, just once, never lie to me again**_ ”

 

Leo seemed to catch on that he probably should stop talking all together. Instead he just leveled a defeated stare at Karai.

 

“ _ **Leo**_ _ **Leo Leo**_ ” she said again. “ _ **Do you know why I am saying your name over and over again?**_ ”

 

“ **No** ” Leo said.

 

“ _ **I am a witch, Leo. I am practicing for when I need to curse you**_ ”

 

He closed his eyes for a few seconds. “ **I guess it’s good to practice** ”

 

“ _ **You think that’s funny do you. Let me tell you this Leo if you hurt Karai in anyway, I will curse you. I will turn your skin green**_ ”. Karai nearly shoved her fist in her mouth to keep from laughing.

 

“ **Oh, anything but that** ” Leo said absent of any emotion.

 

“ _ **I will scorch you from the face of the earth, I’ll make your eyes turn to rubber and ferment your kidneys-**_ ”

 

“I don’t like her very much anymore” he whispered holding his hand over the receiver.

 

“ _ **-**_ _ **t**_ _ **hese are not idle**_ _ **threats**_ _ **Leonardo. If you do wrong by her I will fucking curse you.**_ _ **Do you understand this?**_ ”

 

Leo mulled this over. “ **Noted** ”

 

“ _ **Alright, now put Karai back on, I am done with you**_ ”

 

Karai took the phone from a less that impressed turtle and tried to calm her breathing down enough so it didn’t sound like she was recovering from laughing her lungs out. “ **I’m back** ”

 

“ _ **I like him, nice voice, very polite.**_ _ **Not very good with his pronunciations, is he not Japanese?**_ _ **He’s exactly the opposite of the type I would expect you to be with**_ _ **if I am being completely forthright**_ ” Shini said immediately.

 

Leo twisted his face up and gestured with his hands in the universal ‘the fuck is going on’ movements and it almost sent her into another fit of laughter. “ **I’m corrupting him** ”

 

“ _ **Or he’s softening you**_ ”

 

“ **Never** ” Karai said back with a smile. An automated voice came through and told her to put more money in or her call would disconnect. “ **I’m out of quarters Shini, I’ll speak to you again real soon, I promise** ”

 

“ _ **Sure Karai. Stay safe lovely, happy  belated birthday**_ ”

 

“ **Thanks Shini, goodbye** ”

 

“ _ **Goodbye**_ ”

 

She hung up the phone and slowly turned to look at Leo who had his arms crossed over his shell.

 

“I think she likes you” Karai stated and Leo squinted.

 

“She threatened to ferment my kidneys”

 

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, usually it’s the testicles”

 

* * *

May 26th, **2013** | 11:43 pm

* * *

“Really, the Museum of Modern Art?” he said in disbelief, breathless from chasing her.

 

She was breathless too, breathing hard, she kept her distance from him though, keeping him twenty feet away from her at all times. “Not a fan?” she panted out.

 

“Of modern art or you stealing my katana?” he yelled lunging forward and she dodged away maintaining her distance “Karai!”

 

“Don’t be naughty!” she scolded “You’ll get his back after the field trip!” she sang song before cackling.

 

He bent over hands braced above his knees “You are literally the worst”

 

“You’re the one following me around” she said breathlessly twirling his sword awkwardly. She’s not trained in this weapon, it’s heavy. The way Leo moves them she thought maybe they were made out of Styrofoam.

 

He glared but smiled “Give that back”

 

“Nah” she rifle carried the sword and marched away from him “Here, I’ll leave it in the museum for you”

 

He scrambled after her and she smiled menacingly. Getting under his skin was great, and today she was really freaking him out.

 

“What's the problem Leo?” she teased. He huffed a little and they scuttle around each other.

 

“I’m not following you in there” he argued.

 

They were on the roof. It had taken a long time for them to get here. Longer than she had anticipated. He cut her off a few times, he knew the city better than her but she had a suspicion even he wasn’t too familiar with where they were now.

 

She smiled. “We’ll see about that”. She took a running start and leapt over the edge of the building onto a lower platform. Knowing Leo would be on her in moments she quickly made her way to the large floor to ceiling windows and pulled out a new compact glass cutter. It had been borrowed from the fly… along with something else.

 

He jumped down next to her and she rolled away as fast as she could. The sword was cumbersome. “Karai!” he snapped.

 

“Ah ah ah” she said waggling her finger. “You wouldn’t want to be caught on camera now would you?”. She used his sword to point through the window at the cameras in the museum and his eyes widened in regret, quickly he back off and crouched down to the ground. “Camera shy?” she asked as she went back to the window, she gave the camera a wave before she began cutting the glass again.

 

In the reflection she could see Leo was obviously very conflicted. If he approached her now the cameras would see him. The glass fell inwards with a loud smack, it didn’t break though which was good. Crawling over broken glass wasn’t on her list of preferred activities. Without missing a step she crawled in.

 

Leo groaned and she smiled. The museum was quiet and dimly lit. She turned to see Leo still in the distance staring at her angrily.

 

He was adorable.

 

He was like an angry puppy.

 

“Oh Leeeeeeeeo” she taunted. “Come look at the art with me!”

 

He scowled.

 

“The cameras already saw you” she went back to swinging his sword around wildly. “You want it? Come get it!”

 

His scowl deepened but he trudged over to the hole in the glass, sighed so hard he fogged the glass then he crawled through the hole.

 

She laughed.

 

“Sword. Now” he said, with his hand out expectantly as if she was going to give him it so easily.

 

“Maybe if you had asked nicely” she said walking away from him. “First, we need to find a certain room”

 

“This isn’t funny Karai!” he hissed lowly, but he followed her, he looked over his shoulders in a frantic paranoid manner. Cataloging every camera and craning his neck as they stepped around corners. “There can’t be video evidence of my existence”

 

“Oh that sounds mysterious” she pointed out. “And not in a good way. More of a Loss Nech Monster type way”

 

“This is not the time for jokes!”

 

“Would you relax?”. She was enjoying the view. Not that any of the art really spoke to her, but it was neat to look at.

 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Leo make a move. He ran to the side and jumped off the wall towards her gaining the upper ground but she flipped up, landing a blow of his thigh. It was enough have him land off balance before he almost fell.

 

He caught his balance on something he shouldn’t have. It was a butt ugly statue made of scrap metal but as soon as he touched it a high pitched noise erupted from the walls.

 

It was a beautiful sight. He kept the piece from falling over but the vast gallery offered no place to hide. None of the statues or displays were big enough to hide behind, the only one that could was unhelpfully made of glass.

 

She heard footsteps clicking on laminate floor, so did Leo but what he did in response was shocking. In the middle of the room, spaced equally away from the other statue he posed. It was ridiculous, a fighting stance frozen. Balanced on one leg and everything. She shrugged. The guard was getting close and having such an obvious weapon wouldn’t be smart. So she plunged it into a potted plant in front of Leo’s statue still eyes just as a security guard entered.

 

“Hey you!” he called. “Hands where I can see them!”

 

She raised her hands and shook them to make it look like it was in fear. “I’m sorry!” she said in her most pitiful voice. “I was dared to hide in the bathroom until you guys closed!”

 

The guard walked right past Leo. “How old are you?” he asked.

 

Karai bowed her head and shied away. “Seventeen”

 

“And you were what? Here on a school field trip today?” he asked, lowering his taser.

 

She nodded.

 

The guard didn’t look amused. He was older, late sixties, well kept grey hair, a neat moustache. An ironed uniformed. “You were on a school field trip today?”

 

“Yes, again I’m so sorry sir”

 

He raised his taser again and pinched his brows together. “You went on a school field trip on a Sunday?”

 

 _Shit._ “Uh”

 

“You’re coming with me, or I’m calling the police” he warned. He was a few feet in front of Leo with his back to him. She saw his eye dart from where he was staring distantly to her, then to the back of the guards head.

 

“I guess I did fuck this up” she admitted dropping the act along with her hands. Leo stepped forward silently and quickly hit a spot in the man’s neck that sent his eyes rolling up into his head as his knees gave out. Leo caught him and gently lowered him to the ground.

 

As soon as the guard was on the floor he retrieved his sword from the potted plant. “Good job Karai” he whisper yelled.

 

“I’m pretty sure there was only one guard and you knocked him out” she said at a normal volume and he scowled. Then he looked over his blade and inspected it as if she would have damaged it. “Now come on, we have one more stop”

 

“I’m not going anywhere with you” he snapped. “Why are you doing this anyways? Are you here to steal something?”

 

“Fine, and here I thought we were having fun” she sneered.

 

Leo frowned and left without a word. _That’s right, runaway. Avoid me for a while, remember I’m up to no good._

 

The alarms were still blaring, it didn't concern her.  The man had a bundle of keys that she snagged from his belt. The small gold key, dulled from years of use and being passed between many people was exactly what she needed. She walked through the museum at a brisk pace listening for other guards but she heard none. She found her way to the back rooms, the employee only realm and walked into a room full of TV monitors like she lived there.

 

All she wanted to was walk around the museum with Leo, look at the weird art but it was never going to work. She realized half way to the museum he would never give up and just let her drag him somewhere. It was inevitable that they would be interrupted, or that once he reclaimed his katana he would leave.

 

The second item she stole from the fly was a custom molded USB drive labeled "Fry-rus". She read one sentence about it and took it. The sentence said something about melting hard drives. She plugged it into the computer under the table and waited. Her eyes rested on the screen the guard must have scene them on. She wondered if the alarm alerted him to her break in or it he had already seen them on the camera. On screen the guard was still unconscious.

 

Another screen gave a perfect view of the hole she cut but that wasn't what caught her eye. It was hard to see him, the resolution on the feed was low but he was crouched on the roof waiting. She wondered if he was waiting to attack her, though Leo never sought revenge for her shenanigans so quickly. Suddenly the screens all went black and she could smell melting plastic. She coughed and left the room before the stench could overwhelm her. 

 

When she left the museum she was ready for him to strike but he never did.

 

She looked for him but he was gone, she caught a glimpse of movement a few roofs over but couldn't identify it. There was no way to confirm if it was him and chasing after him when he had such a lead was futile.

 

_He made sure I got out._

 

_Why would he do that?_

 

* * *

May 27th, 2014 | 12:56 am

* * *

“So, today is your birthday” Leo asked as they walked back.

 

“Yesterday. May 26th”

 

“Oh” he said. “I feel like I should have known that”

 

“I never told you” she said.

 

“We’re dating, I feel like I should already know when your birthday is”

 

“Dating?” she asked.

 

Leo raised his eye ridge. “We saw Lake Placid together and then you climbed all over me in a lake”

 

“Climbed all over you?” she laughed. “I don’t recall you ever objecting”

 

“Either way, is there anything you-”

 

“We’ve been dating a week, Leo” she cut him off. “If I wanted something for my birthday I would have given you a notice”

 

“Why didn’t you?”

 

She didn’t want to say, but he didn’t press. Instead they walked in silence. He found her hand with his squeezed it and that was where the conversation simmered out.

 

Maybe she could tell him, and maybe he would understand but that idea died when a distance engine and scream had them both stopping. A car was speeding down the highway, riding the yellow line. Leo grabbed her wrist and pulled her back from the road right before the car reached them. It wouldn’t have hit her dead on but it would’ve been too close for comfort had he not pulled her out of the way.

 

“Are you okay?” he asked and she nodded.

 

“Yeah, was that-”

 

Another car sped by and Karai got a good look at it, it was the hot rod that was Raph was so fascinated with.

 

“Casey and Donnie are going after the Speed Demon” Leo seethed. “And I pretty sure it was Donnie on the roof of the car that almost hit us”

 

“What’s the plan?”

 

Leo gave his right leg a bend and thought for a second. "I'm going to start working my way towards them, you can get to the farm house faster by yourself. Gather up who you can and use the party wagon to get out here, they obviously don't have any idea what they are doing" he started to jog away from her.

 

"Do you have any idea what you're doing" she called after him.

 

He turned and jogged backwards away "I'm working on it".

 

She watched him turn around and pick up a little speed, she turned and started slithering away. The woods weren't hard for her to navigate she could easily get back to the farm house-

 

The party wagon sped by her and skidded to a stop several yards away. It looked very different. There was a gun mounted to the roof along with a chair. The whole vehicle looked extremely reinforced. As she slithered over the back opened.

 

"Hurry up Karai!" Mike called beckoning her in.

 

"What is this?" she asked.

 

"Idiot wranglin'" Raph growled stomping on the accelerator the second Mikey closed the door.

 

It sent her a Mikey to the back pressed up against the door. April was in the passengers seat gripping her seat belt and the door. Some sort of tablet on her lap was beeping. Before they could recover Raph hit the breaks and both her and Mikey we're now hugging the diver between the front and back of the car.

 

"Someone tell Donnie to install seat belts back here" Mikey complained peeling his face off of the back of April's headrest.

 

Raph kicked the driver's side door open and hopped out, he didn't put it in park so the car rolled very slowly forward. "Get in Fearless'" he grunted. Leo scrambled to get in the still moving vehicle and Raph climbed up the side, which solved the mystery of why they were stopping so soon and what was on the roof.

 

"What's going on" he asked, closing the door and buckling up.

 

"Keep heading East they’re on Interstate 87” April said and Leo obliged. The tablet looked like what had been mounted on the dash when Leo and her raided ATMs, only now it had a yellow blinking dot.

 

“Why am I only able to go 40?”. Leo pushed hard on the accelerator and the party wagon still moved slower than she remembered.

 

“It’s heavily armored and it’s an old car Leo, we have to work with what we have!”

 

“Alright alright!” Leo said taken aback by how frazzled April was.

 

“If that thing doesn’t kill them I will. What were they thinking trying to go after it alone!?”

 

“When did they leave?”

 

“We don’t know, Casey called and said that Donnie was on the Speed Demon and he needed back up-”

 

“So we looked for you and Karai” Mikey interrupted. “We thought you’d be in your room making kissy faces but you too were gone as well!”

 

Leo opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by April. “They’re headed towards us!”

 

Mikey smacked the ceiling and Raph stomped his foot back. “Oh yeah boys the Meter Maids are here to keep the roads clear”

 

“They’ve stopped!” April said. “I think we can catch up with them”

 

“I got the grappling hooks!” Mikey announced. “Karai, that button under the window on the left, when I say fire we’ll grab the speed demon”

 

Sure enough there was a a button, flush with the wall of the van labeled “grapplin’ hooks: Mikey do not touch”.

 

“That’s him!” April pointed out the windshield at the violet Dodge Challenger as if they weren’t all looking the same direction.

 

Raph started firing the gun, bright laser beams fired from above at the wheels of the mutant. “Where’s Donnie?” Karai asked.

 

The hot rod was in front of the mutant, Casey was trying to keep it from passing him.

 

“Deploy grappling hooks!” Mikey yelled and they pressed their respective buttons. Two chains fired from below the Party wagon with a compressed popping noise.

 

The mutant howled out in pain and sped forward rear ending Casey with enough force to send him into a spin off the road. Leo hit the breaks and there was a split moment where the chains became taught lurching them forward and then they snapped and flew forward leaving them in the dust.

 

"Oh man, didn't this happen last time we tried using grappling hooks!? When will we learn!?" Mikey hollered leaning his head forward.

 

Leo pulled the van around to where Casey was on the side of the road. He was fruitlessly trying to get the engine to start.

 

"Where's Donnie?" Leo yelled over the growl of both engines.

 

"He's driving the car!" Casey yelled. "That stupid mutant ate him and made him the driver!"

 

"What!?" All of them said.

 

Casey started the engine successfully and whooped. "And Casey Jones is going to get him back!"

 

"Wait, Casey we need a plan-"

 

"It's not going to happen Leo. He's lost to us, speaking in the third person is always a bad sign" Mikey said grabbing his older brother's shoulder.

 

"Come on we're losing him!" Raph hollered stomping on the roof.

 

Leo hit the accelerator and they again maxed out at 40 miles per hour. "How fast are they going?"

 

"The tracker is on Casey and he's currently going 95, but before we picked you two up we clocked Speed Demon at 107"

 

"Great”

 

That’s how they spent the next ten minutes, driving on the interstate until April called out that they stopped and they rounded a curve to see both Donnie and Casey in the road.

 

“That’s Dead Man’s Curve!” April exclaimed.

 

“That’s not ominous or anything” Karai muttered.

 

Raph was shooting but the lasers didn’t phase the mutant. “We’re not going to make it!” Leo yelled gripping the steering wheel as hard as he could.

 

The hood of the car opened like a mouth, Casey and Donnie crawled backwards away but there was no way they would reach them before-

 

“NO!” April shouted and everything went silent. The engine, the wind, Raph’s battle cry as he fired the gun.

 

The mutant car flipped up in the air over the curve before their eyes and all the sound came rushing back.

 

“Dude!” Mikey breathed out.

 

As they approached Raph jumped off the roof of the party wagon and joined Casey and Donnie who were looking over the rail trying to see the mutant. Mikey opened the back as Leo put it in park.

 

Mikey peered over the edge so far he almost went toppling over but Raph grabbed him in threw him back into the road.

 

“Do you think it’s-”

 

Far below a plume of flames erupted among the trees.

 

“-dead?” April finished shielding her face from the sudden brightness.

 

Casey and Donnie threw their hands in the air in celebration. “That was wicked!” Casey yelled.

 

“Did you see when I straight at it and lodged my bo staff in-”

 

“-did you see when I jumped from-”

 

They continued to ignore the others while they relived the night. Raph and April stood next to each other, arms crossed and glaring at the duo.

 

Mikey was still sitting in the road. “The evidence keeps piling up” he said turning to look back at Leo.

 

“That April has powers?” Leo guessed.

 

He shook his head back and forth. “I think there’s a chance that documentary Cars was live-action”2

 

“Tha’ was a kid’s film dingus”

 

Mikey rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s what they want you to think” he said, dead serious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1Harvestmen pic for reference: https://i.imgur.com/bEW4eqH.jpg  
> 1 Video of blobs of harvestmen in this poor person's shed: https://i.imgur.com/dGV7ePA.gifv  
> 2 Anatomy of a Car: https://i.imgur.com/pDOWd1z.jpg
> 
> I've seen all six Lake Placid movies. They're so bad... they're good.
> 
> EDIT: Changed "formula one/race car" to "hot rod". Oops.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karai finds out something she wishes she hadn't and avoids Leo because of it. Meanwhile April and Donnie make that double date happen after all. Later a turducken fucks up their morning but I'm sure that won't be a cliffhanger or anything.
> 
> (short filler chapter, Eyes of the Chimera next time <3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder  
>  **bolded words** = spoken Japanese
> 
> Warnings:  
> Descriptions of self harm.  
> 

* * *

June 1st, 2014 | 2:00 pm

* * *

Two months awake, but Leo moves like there was nothing wrong at all. He fights with Mikey and they both move as if the earth is a trampoline, Mikey more so. That's what she gets from casual observation.

There had been a lot of casual observations in the past few days. She can't be blamed, it's the tragic result of having too much time and not enough distractions. 

Or too many distractions.

It was great, really great that Leo was training more. That he seemed to be in a better mood. More focused than ever on getting everything ready for their return to New York City, it just meant there was less time for them to goof off.

Distracting Leo was one of her favorite past times and now he had the audacity to be responsible and a leader.

He also had the audacity to be that flexible while training. Karai doesn't know what God to thank for Leo's lack of clothes, or maybe she shouldn't be thanking any higher power because her mind was jumping to some very risky places. How many times had she replayed their dip in the lake and let things escalate past Leo opening his mouth and ruining it with reminders of a dead guy? An embarrassing amount, enough that she started taking showers in the morning because now she woke up from dreams that any normal girl would discreetly take care of before starting their day.

There was no way she was going to venture into the realm of self exploration in the upstairs bathroom of April's farmhouse, so brisk showers and breathing exercises would have to hold her off.

Leo back flipped over Mikey, he's coated in sweat. He was smiling ever so slightly as his little brother made nonsensical noises while rocking to the rhythm of his nunchucks.

Ironically the person to ask about cloacas and self exploration would be Leo and that seemed like a bad idea. They were a unit, two halves of a whole. People, normal people, talked about their genitals with their partners...right? She sighed, that almost sounded reasonable. Maybe it was a good idea. Either he would tell her about cloacas and definitely not tell anyone what she asked or he would be freaked out and therefore entertaining. That had to be a win.

Which led her to recall some of the things she had already overheard. Particularly the morning after they killed the Speed Demon and Raph complained that Casey had fallen asleep on him and when he woke up something was poking him and it wasn't any of the boys limbs.

Raph rightfully added that to his list of "Why Humans Aren't Attractive" and that led to Casey trying to explain the concept of morning wood. April and Karai backed him up, it wasn't as if Casey could control it and Donnie gave them all a horribly detailed description of nocturnal penile tumescence. Another glorious phrase that Karai was sure she would always remember.

This only had confused Casey more when he realized it was called "Morning Wood" not "Mourning Wood". (His mother had told him that it was the latter because if he woke up and the soldier in his boxer's was standing to attention it made God sad.)

So that was how Karai found out she would never have to worry about Leo poking her with morning wood, and that Casey's childhood was a special form of fucked up.

Also Casey was forever placed on _Team Weirdos Who Have Morning Wood_ and Leo was placed on _Team Weirdos Who Question The Purpose of Putting People Into Teams if All You Need To Declare a Team is Point Out Something They Do That Others Do Not_....and what can she say, he walked into that one.

All of that was a flood of memories as she watched Leo bend and flex, he was muscular the way he was in New York City. Sharp defined muscles, low body fat but not venous. She could feel it in him too, he was powerful in the way he hugged her, the way he pressed her against him. Then just as easy he was still gentle and never pushed forward on anything.

Leo was the type of guy that wanted to be ...wanted. He wanted her to desire his touch, his kisses, his attention. It explained why seeing her topless in the context of walking in on her wasn't his thing, yet he had enjoyed her stripping for him at the lake. He was smoother now that the pressure was off (though sometimes it didn't land and she'd laugh and he'd look disappointed which would only make her laugh harder).

She was grateful she was watching him from the upstairs window and not the porch because she was sure her face was flushed and it would be noticeable. Suspicions about their relationship were still low, it probably came with the fact that their friendship had always been weird and now it's still weird and no one can figure out it they are flirting with each other or going at it like Casey and Raph do sometimes.

 

* * *

June 1st, 2014 | 10:54 pm

* * *

She sipped her tea and willed her eye lids to stay open. It was too late for planning, normally Leo went to bed by ten and woke up by five to meditate for an hour before getting ready at six. Karai would hold her pillow over her head to block out the noise, risk of accidentally suffocation be damned.

Mr. Tubbs was sitting lazily around her shoulders, his tongue tickling her eyebrow as his head watched Leo's arm move a tiny metallic figurine of a top hat over before saying something to Raph who nodded. He had his mask pulled up off his gaping eye socket to let it breathe and Karai was accidentally staring straight into it.

"The Hudson river will be flooded with light" Leo said using a fire iron to point across the table.

Raph shrugged. "We're turts" he said with an exhausted demeanor.

"They're not" Leo responded jerking his thumb towards Karai. Mr. Tubbs saw this as a threat and struck at Leo. "Hey" he said scowling at his attacker.

Mr. Tubbs was defanged but the little feeder teeth on the roof of his mouth were still intact and they caught the fabric of Leo's wrappings. The snake, now with his prey at his mercy wrapped around Leo's arm.

"Here" she said taking his arm because this was not the first time Mr. Tubbs had tried to eat someone in the farmhouse and Leo's fingers were thick while hers were tiny enough to unlatch the fabric.

"Maybe we get in first, then we get 'em in afterwards" Raph suggested. 

Leo rubbed the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "Getting through once unnoticed will be hard enough" he reasoned as if his other hand wasn't in the clutches of a Cobra. "The soldier guarding the city aren't Kraang droids, they're actual soldiers"

 

She pulled his wrapping lose to get easier access to the caught fabric. "April has powers" Raph yawned. "Is there anyway we can use tha'? She used the force or some shit to explode somethin' then she tossed the Speed Demon off a cliff. What if she just blew us through the barrier?"

"How many people would she potentially kill?" Leo asked sighing. "Nothing against her and I know Donnie is trying to figure out what she's doing but if she kills someone she'll be destroyed". Her finger slipped under his wrapping and she finally got Mr. Tubbs free. She caught a glimpse of her finger and it was smeared in something dry and reddish brown.

"Okay if you're jus' gonna shit on all my suggestions then I'm going to bed"

His wrappings were now skewed and she saw fresh marks on his wrist before he fixed them while still talking to Raph. "Yeah, you're right I'm sorry-"

"We're both tired"

"That's true, Goodnight Raph"

"'Night bro"

She hid her stained finger tips in her fist as Leo turned back to her. "I think I am going up to bed, too"

"Uh, I am.. going to go out actually" she said quickly, she was suddenly more awake than she had been ten minutes prior.

"Oh" he said a little confused.

She handed him Mr. Tubbs. "Would you put him back for me? Thanks" she turned and left the dining room and slithered out the back door. It didn't matter that she had no reason to leave so late at night, she just needed time to think.

The barn wasn't extremely welcoming but it was the only other place with cover that wasn't the farmhouse. She slithered in there and closed the door behind her. She dug her forehead into the wood and clenched her jaw shut.

It didn't make sense, he was happy. Wasn't he?

She slithered to Donnie's workbench and turned on the light, it flickered to life and she uncurled her first. No, she hadn't imagined it, there was blood on her hands and it had came off of Leo's wrists.

When was the last time she'd seen his wrists. She could've sworn he took them off while they were swimming but now that she's trying to recall it, she's not sure. In fact the last time she saw his wrist was when she made him show her them under the threat of getting Donnie.

Then he almost did it that night after they defeated the Punk Frogs, but she distracted him. 

Why was he doing it then? Everything was going well.

She opened up the back of the Party Wagon and coiled up in the back. She took the hoodie off the back of the driver's seat and draped it over herself.

That was a mistake because it smelled like Leo. In that moment she didn't know how to feel about him.

 

* * *

June 2nd, 2014 | 10:08 am

* * *

 _Leo's cutting himself again_. Is what she wants to say out loud. She wanted Donnie and Raph to do something because she remembered how capable they had been before. What if he went too far like that one night, what if he did that and no one found him?

She wanted to puke. Then she wanted to not care.

That was her talent, not caring.

"Karai? Earth to Kaaaaaaarai?" April said waving her hand in front of her face.

Karai jolted back. "What?"

April look at her with concern. "You okay? Because you're staring at Donnie's back with a really intense expression"

"Don't worry I'm not suddenly going after your boyfriend" she said with a sigh.

April rolled her eyes. "Well you were more so giving him a murderous look, I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to eat him or something"

"Why does everyone in this house think I'm a murder machine, as far as you know I've never killed anyone"

"Have you killed anyone?" April asked slowly.

"What kind of question is that?" she snapped. "I was second hand to The Shredder of course I've killed people"

April sighed. "Okay look, are you okay? I don't need to be a ninja to feel that something is really wrong"

She decided not to say anything.

"Is it something to do with Leo? Did you two have a fight? Have you been sleeping out here all night?"

Like a five-year old Karai pulled the hoodie over her head. "Leave me" she groaned.

April patted her on the shoulder and she flinched away. When she heard the redhead conversing with Donnie and Casey she draped her tail over her body like a hug from herself.

She was content to lie in the party wagon forever, she had no motivation to move. Her fingers were still dirty and she was tired. There had been no sleep last night.

A few minutes later she lifted the edge of the hoodie to watch April and Donnie talk. He's sitting on the ground propped up against his workbench and April is tucked next to him, his arm was draped around her and his head was resting on top of hers.

She's drawing something in her notebook and he's just content watching her do that. Casey comes over to the party wagon with some paint and she pulls the hoodie back over her face. Eventually she'll have to leave the barn and maybe see Leo.

Or she could tell Donnie right now and then...

_What if the reason Leo nearly killed himself was because they tried to stop him from cutting in the first place. What if telling his brothers would hurt him more than help him._

He was at a healthy weight, he was no longer using his crutch, he was...happy.

This was one of those things she wished she hadn't found out, there were no winners in this situation. Even if she told Donnie not to tell Leo that she was the one who discovered what he was doing, she'd have to pretend to be shocked if Donnie told the others.

It felt like hours had passed with the music blasting in the barn and Casey painting the party wagon and Donnie dozing with April in his arms before Mikey announced lunch.

"I know what you need" April said after Casey and Donnie left.

Karai made a noise from under the hoodie.

"You need some fun" she said. "So not butts, tomorrow, 9PM, meet me here at the party wagon"

"Why?"

"Just, trust me" April said and Karai could hear her uncertain smile. "Wear something comfortable"

April left before she could say no or yes which meant Karai was definitely roped into whatever April had planned. She threw Leo's hoodie in the passenger seat and slithered out of the party wagon. She peered through the cracks in the barn wall and watched everyone go into the house.

Then she headed into the woods.

 

* * *

June 2nd, 2014 | 4:55 pm

* * *

Storm clouds and distance thunder herded her like some sort of farm animal. She had no choice but to be inside the house as raindrops pattered down. There was no wasted time, all the turtles were now discussing the plan. Karai kept one ear on the dining room table and another on April who offered to teach Karai how to make meatloaf.

Karai had never had meatloaf, or really heard of it and she knew April was trying to cheer her up. Even though Karai had entered the farmhouse with the most cool and laid back demeanor she could muster. The teen had still practically dragged her into the kitchen and told her they were making meatloaf.

She was handed a pair or loose plastic gloves to put on and she did. April then took out the ground beef.

"Personally I think 85/15 is the best, more fat for the ground up crackers to soak into"

"Crackers?" Karai asked.

April nodded. "Better than bread crumbs, but that's a topic of hot debate in the O'Neil household"

At the table tensions rose. "I'm just saying that two or three of us to scout out the inside of the city would get us the most reliable information"

"I could hack into a satellite and we could use that to get real time footage of the city" Donnie offered. "I would need a faster internet hookup than the one out here though-"

"So first we're going to get all of our ingredients ready, you can dice the onions since I think you are incapable of crying" April said cheerily.

Karai smiled. "Sure thing, how much?"

"One half cup-"

"We have a situation" Casey said skidding into the kitchen, he ran to the drainer and grabbed all the glasses, and mugs...and cereal bowls.

"What are you doing"

"Water, ceiling" Casey said running out of the kitchen.

"Uh then measure out a half cup of milk, I'll be right back Karai" April said taking her apron off and following Casey.

"We just need to go up the gate an' barge in, the bastards won't be able to track us on our turf" Raph grunted out.

Leo huffed. " _Real_ soldier, _real_ guns, _real_ bullets Raph. Stealth mission would be our best bet"

"Well you're making me _real_ angry Leo"

April came back. "The roof is leaking" she said opening the cabinet under the sink. She found a bucket full of cleaning supplies and emptied it out. "Just uh, crap, one second" she said running away.

Leo and Raph were now standing up. "That's real mature Raph but I'm the leader-"

"-Well I'm second in command"

"Who made you second in command?"

"You did!"

"Guys why is the map wet?" Mikey asked.

Raph and Leo tackled each other and wrestled to the ground.

"It seems the roof is compromised" Donnie said looking up with little concern over the wrestling between Leo and Raph. He took Leo's tea mug and moved it under the dripping water.

April came back down. "Uh can someone get a mop up here there's so much water"

"Coming pumpkin" Donnie said, he side step around Leo and Raph. The latter threw the former on the couch. Leo did a backwards summer salt away before Raph could elbow slam from above.

Karai peered her head into the doorway of the dining room where Mikey was playing with a tiny toy car. "Uh aren't you going to do something"

"I mean, I think he could do better than 'pumpkin' but I'm not about to name April for him" Mikey shrugged not even looking up.

"No I mean them, Raph and Leo" she said gesturing with her onion to the duo who now had their legs twisted around each other.

Mikey folded his hands over his heart. "I know, isn't it great?" he said lovingly. "Everything is going back to the way it was"

"Uh.."

"Here, I'll help you make the rest of the meatloaf" Mikey said taking her onion and tossing it up in the air and then running forward quickly to catch it. "Oops, sneaky fella" he said with a chuckle.

"Okay" she said as she followed him back into the kitchen. 

"You're going to have to mix the stuff together because they don't make gloves with two fingers and one thumb" he said as he started to dice the onions.

She measured the milk into a half cup. Mikey started humming and Karai tried not to about Leo and Raph wrestling in the other room.

 

Mikey started crying. "I'm just so happy that they're finally fighting again" he sobbed out as he rotated the onion and started cutting it again. "Raph has been dying to take a swing at Leo like the old days and it's just so, so, so b-b-beautiful"

_Would Raph be doing that if he knew what was under those wrappings?_ She knew it was better not to ask that out loud. Instead she nodded in agreement.

 

* * *

June 3rd, 2014 | 3:05 am

* * *

_"Really?" she said looking up from the intricate box. It was made of polished wood, a detailed carving of wild flowers on the outside. "My birthday isn't for another two weeks though..."_

__

_"This is a special gift" he said with his hand on her back._

__

_She opened the case. She gasped. "You didn't"_

__

_"I did, it's all your's Karai, made from the finest steel folded hundreds of times" he said. "Do you like it?"_

__

_"I love it daddy! Thank you so much!" She practically squealed turning around to hug her dad. "Thank you thank you, thank you!"_

__

_He rubbed her back and laughed. "Anything for my daughter"_

She sat up and threw her tail off her back. Then she tossed that stupid hoodie to the side and tried to inhale through her mouth and out through her nose slowly.

His hand was still on her back, impossibly big like she was eight again and her Wakizashi was being presented to her in a pretty box. 

_"I love you daddy"_

__

_"I love you too Karai"_

She was going to puke, there was nothing inside her to puke up but she was going to puke. Either she could puke in the barn or she could puke on the ground outside where hopefully no one would notice.

When she decided to slither into the farmhouse she noticed the kitchen light was on, luckily it wasn't Leo who was up.

What she walked into was so much weirder than Leo being up. 

"What's up Karai" Mikey said. He had a two of clubs stuck to his forehead. The table was littered in Monster energy drinks and cheese puffs.

"What are you doing up?" she asked regretting how horse her throat sounded.

"I drank this soda Donnie and Casey were having while taking on the Speed Demon and now I can't stop playing Forehead Idiot with Icecream Kitty" he said in a quick sentence.

"How many did you have?" she asked moving a chair out of the way so she could coil up to the table.

He looked around at the stacks of empty cans. "Uh, at least two" he said. 

Icecream Kitty gave a disapproving yowl. She had a three of hearts on her forehead.

"Whatever Icecream Kitty there's no way my card is lower than yours so you might as well give up!" he said throwing up a hand sign and the frozen dairy feline glared at him. "You want to play Karai?"

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's Forehead Idiot!" he repeated. "Alright, last chance to save your sprinkles and fold" he told the cat. She hissed. "Fine, on three. One, two, three!" They both looked at their cards and Icecream Kitty did a little dance in her bowl. "What!? Uhhhhhgg fine" he groaned as he slid three cheese puffs across the table. "That's the fourth one in a row I think Karai should shuffle next"

He passed the deck to her and... it was sticky. Of course it was sticky.

"We stopped playing our game" he said while picking up cans and shaking them for any left over liquid.

"Well, everyone got busy" she said casually. "In a few days we'll all be going back to New York"

"It'll be great to be home" Mikey said. "I miss my room, sharing a room with Raph sucks he sleep punches"

She put the shuffled deck on the table.

"Okay the concept is everyone takes a card and without looking at your own card you stick it to your forehead, then the goal is to either have the highest card or if you don't convince the other players that their card is really low and that they should back out. Last card up wins, or highest card if no one backs out" he said.

They all took a card.

Mikey had a king of spades and Icecream Kitty had a nine of hearts. It wasn't looking good for her.

They both shook their heads sadly at her. "Ohhh, that's bad luck" Mikey said lowly.

"Yeah sure" she deadpanned. "I'd be installing doubt if I had a card as low as yours"

"Right you wish you had a card as high as mine" Mikey boasted.

Karai sucked air through her teeth. "That depends, are aces high or low?"

"Sadly for you their low" Mikey giggled.

"You can't convince me I have an ace, I shuffled the deck and I'm staring at one right now"

"Okay so what about Icecream Kitty?" Mikey asks.

"She definitely has you beat, Mr. Ace" 

"Right, right, I'm quivering over here with what you've got on your head" Mikey teased back. "Hey, what's your favorite card?"

"What?" she asked.

"Like if you had to pick your favorite card, I'd say nine of hearts because the hearts are laid out in the shape of an 'H' and I gotta commend the way that works out"

She thought of it for a moment. "The instruction card that people accidentally shuffle in the deck"

Mikey gave her a weird look. "Why?"

"I don't know, everyone is mad at it for knowing the game."

That was the sentence that revealed to herself how tired she was.

"What if you knew something about someone that they didn't know but telling them would only make that something worse?" she said before she could stop herself.

"Uh..." Mikey stalled. "Are you trying to say my card is low?"

She put her head down forehead first on the table and fell asleep.

"Well this is...a...somethin'" Raph announced coming into the kitchen. "You two stay up playing cards all night?"

It was way too early in the morning to morph into a functional adult. Her neck was stiff, part of her face was stuck to the table.

Raph raised his brow at her, the one that had an eye under it.

"So Leo wakes up to tha' view huh?"

She flipped him off and he laughed as she slithered out of the kitchen. Her eye lids were glued shut in the corners, as she rounded the corner with her eyes closed she hit something.

That something grabbed her by the shoulders and she opened her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked, rubbing his thumbs over the top of her shoulders.

She made a noise.

"Okay..." he reached up and unstuck something form her forehead. "Uh, I think this is yours" he said holding the card out to her.

She took it through blurry vision and exhaustion as he walked around her towards the kitchen. 

It was an ace of hearts.

 

* * *

June 3rd, 2014 | 9:00 pm

* * *

She slept under the bed and was for once woken up by the need to use the restroom and not someone bothering her. The dusty clock on the nightstand read that it was after five, so she had slept through both training sessions, breakfast, and lunch.

Ideally she would like to sleep until a week had passed.

Instead, she took a shower, fixed her hair and set out a clean top. She wondered if Leo had even noticed her absence during all his training and planning. 

When April found her, she was leaning over Mr. Tubbs tank trying to convince him to eat the tiny mouse she had found and captured in the basement. It was dead and Mr. Tubbs seemed uninterested.

"Come on" April popped her head through the doorway. "We're going to be late"

"How are we going to be late if we're the only two going?" she asked dryly.

"Donnie is coming too, you look nice is that a new top?" April asked switching the subject as they departed the farmhouse.

Karai pressed her mouth into a line. "I have five shirts to my name and you have seen them all"

As they neared the barn she heard Leo's voice. "It looks great Donnie, why did you need to show me this though?"

"Well to get your op- oh look it's April and Karai!" he said as they turned the corner, as if he knew they were both coming. "What a coincidence"

"Oh wow, Leo I didn't expect you to be here!" April said walking over to the brothers with a smile. "Donnie and I were about to go mini golfing"

"You know what?" Donnie snapped his fingers. "They should join us"

April nodded at her boyfriend. "They should"

The couple beamed at their two hostages. "I should really be working on the plan, we're leaving this coming Thursday."

"-I don't have a sitter for Mr. Tubbs-"

"Yeah, no, get in the van it's a double date" April said.

Leo and Karai shared a look, Leo seemed amused and annoyed. "Who said anything about a date?" he asked.

"Oh we're going on a date, you two can do whatever you want" she says with a smirk. "Now come on"

They ended up going. She coiled into the back next to Leo and they both were unhappy with the prospect of going mini golfing.

"Stop pouting Leo, what planning are you going to get done anyways. Everything is ironed out unless you want to argue with Raph some more"

"Well seeing as I am now arguing with you I guess I got part of my wish" 

April rolled her eyes. "We need to have a chat, because you two are driving everyone up the wall"

" **Whatever you say pumpkin** " Karai muttered.

Leo coughed into his hand. She found herself staring at his wrappings.

"That!" April exclaimed. "What is this little secret code you have going on?"

"It's actually Japanese" Karai said lightly. "Pretty common language, goes back centuries and so on"

April sighed. "Alright, whatever continue to have your lover's quarrel back there"

"Lover's quarrel?" Leo asked. "We aren't fighting"

Donnie turned around in the passenger seat to give Leo a look.

"And, we're not lovers" he amended.

" **Smooth** "

" **Who's side are you on?** "

"Look, we have an hour and thirty minute drive to this place so play nice or I will turn this van around" Donnie threatened.

Karai and Leo shared a look. " **Want to pretend argue for an hour and a half?** " she said with the air of an insult.

He opened his mouth in shock. " **Donnie said if we don't get along he'll turn the van around, so of course we should pretend to fight** "

"This is going to be a long car trip" Donnie deadpanned.

Donnie never did actually turn the van around. Which was disappointing.

"The Fun Spot?" Leo said, stretching as he got out of the back. 

"Yes, The _Fun_ Spot, Leo. We're all going to have  _fun_ " he said. He retrieved a case of metal picks from his belt as they walked over to the front door. "Now there is a security code but I called ahead and got it so we should be good"

"Wait what? How did you just call and get the code?" Leo asked dumbfounded.

Donnie laughed. "Oh, I just called and said I was with ADT and needed them to confirm their code, the kid on the phone was naive enough to give it to me" he sighed with pity. "The security system is actually _Protect America_...so today's youth...not doing too great"

"Isn't this, I don't know, a little abusive of us?" Leo asked just as Donnie finished picking the lock. "The only reason we are breaking in here is to mess around"

"Come on Leo" April said as she followed Donnie inside. "We've all been working so hard and like you said earlier we're going back to New York in a few days, why not have some fun?"

Karai shrugged. "Alright she convinced me" she slithered past Leo and had a moment of déjà vu where Leo was standing behind glass looking morally frustrated. Except this time it wasn't her that was the cause.

"Fine"

"Yay, oh this is going to be so much fun, we're going to kick your butts!" April whooped.

Donnie locked the doors behind them and reset the code. "Alright, now we can't exactly turn on the lights, that would raise suspicion. So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to test out my new night vision goggles!"

"Look Leo, now we have a reason aside from just fun" April said. Leo gave her a look.

"Alright let's get our clubs and balls and head outside" Donnie said handing a pair of goggles to Leo who looked at them with defeat before putting them on.

The outside golf course was blanketed in darkness. The theme was based off mining. There was a running water feature and a windmill and a log bridge....

It was something alright.

"So us two versus you two?" April said pairing herself up with Donnie.

"How about girls versus boys?" Karai suggested.

April and Donnie shared a look. "We assumed you two would want to be...together?"

"Alright, how about this. Leo versus Karai, and April versus me" Donnie said taking April's hand as they made their way to the first hole. He knew there was no point in trying to argue with Karai, but now it was two separate games.

" **Have you ever played golf before?** "

" **Do video games count?** "

"Alright" Donnie said lining up his club. He wasn't even aiming towards the hole. He hit the ball and it hit the edge of the course, hit another edge then went straight into the hole. "Hole in one!"

April closed her mouth. "How?"

"It's basic math" he said while retrieving his ball from the hole. "Alright who's next?"

"Wait how does this work with four people?"

"We rotate until we all manage to get in the hole" April told Leo as she placed her ball on the starting T. She got pretty close to the hole.

"Ladies first" Leo said to her.

Karai smiled. "I insist you take the lead"

"Fine" he said exhaling a calm breath. He adjusted his grip on his club a few times before hitting the ball, he also didn't do too bad. "Okay, I think I get it"

Karai brushed past him and put her ball on the T then swung her club around a few times. Everyone took a step back. She closed one eye and looked down the sight of her club at Leo's ball and then prepared to make her swing.

Full force she punted her ball into Leo's sending them both into the water. "Oops, **I guess my hand slipped** " she said leaning on her club.

" **So that's how it's going to be is it?** " he said squinting at her.

" **It was an accident** "

"This is going to be a long night" April putted her ball into the hole. "Birdie!"

April retrieved her ball from the hole.

" **Sure it was an accident** " Leo said slowly.

Karai smiled. " **What are you going to do about it?** "

"Do you want to just leave them behind?" Donnie asked April.

She batted her hand at him. "You read my mind".

Karai and Leo got into the artificial stream and started looking for their balls. " **This is your fault** " he said staring down into the water.

" **I'm not denying that** " she swung her golf club in the water and splashed him.

"Hey!" he said, and he swung some water at her. " **Two can play at that game!** "

They splashed water on each other and ignored the way April and Donnie were giving them disapproving looks. She threw her club up on the course and so did Leo along with his goggles, then they used their hands to splash each other.

Karai slapped her tail in the water and in retaliation he turned around and blocked the assault with his shell.

Soaking wet and laughing they completely abandoned any attempts at finding their balls.

 

* * *

June 4th, 2014 | 1:30 am

* * *

"What's the matter?" she asked soaking wet and annoyed.

Leo shook his head. "I can't go in there!"

"Why the hell not!?"

"It's a bathroom!"

Karai groaned. "Exactly, and there are these great things inside that blow hot air out of them and we're soaking wet and cold"

"But...and maybe you are not hearing me, it's a bathroom!"

"Do you have a fear of bathrooms or something?"

He picked at his wrappings and Karai felt her stomach twist in a knot. At one time it was endearing when he did that. "What? No... just, I would prefer to not...enter them...ever"

She exhaled and went into the bathroom, she was too cold to reason with whatever bathroom trauma Leo was having. The hot air felt good on her back and when it stopped she heard him cautiously walk in, his foot wrappings made a wet squelch as he walked on the tiles.

"Oh this is so weird, what the shell in that?"

"Urinal"

"What does it do?"

"It's for peeing, have you never been inside a public restroom?" She asked the frightened animal keeping his distance from the looming urinals on the wall.

"Why is it..." he gestured at it without words. "Do people just do that in the open? Where is the privacy?"

She sighed and turned on the blower while Leo opened all the stalls with his foot and peered inside. Part of her was glad he didn't have his katanas out, it would have made everything more ridiculous.

"Guys don't care about privacy" she said.

Leo frowned. "I would care about privacy if my parts hung out like that". He cocked his head at the urinal. "How do girls use these?"

"We just lean back real far and hope" she said as evenly as she could until she saw Leo's poor horrified face. "I'm joking, seriously you believed that? Leo this is the men's room, girls don't use urinals"

"How was i suppose to know it's not like I have ever been in here before!" he defended. "Sensei always says to avoid people...and bathrooms"

She had no comment for that. Instead she watched him walk over to the hand dryer and put his hands under it waiting for something to happen. She reached over and hit the knob and he said "ohhh" but she could barely hear it over the air flow.

Part of her had wondered how he was planning to dry off his soaked wrist wraps, the other part didn't care. She wanted him to ask her to leave so he could take them off and hold them under the dryer without her seeing his bare wrists. Instead he acted like what he was doing was normal.

_How was he acting so casual._

They left the bathroom slightly damp and Karai pulled him towards the indoor play ground. It was a colorful display of nets and tunnels that climbed up pretty high. So that's where they perched themselves, in a hammock of nets overlooking a small food court.

"You've been avoiding me" he said after a while. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, we've just both been busy"

"Oh" he said.

Down below April and Donnie were getting food out of a vending machine, they were laughing. "I wonder who won" she said.

Leo shrugged. "Donnie, he can hit any target"

"If there was something wrong, you would tell me right?" she asked suddenly.

"Of course" he said. "Why is there something wrong?"

"No, I just wanted to know"

"I do have something to ask you though.." he started.

"Well spit it out"

"After we save the city, will you stay with us?"

She looked away. This question wasn't a surprise. She didn't know when he was going to ask, and she didn't have a prepared answer. "That's a loaded question, Blue"

"Only if you make it one" he said. "I've talked to Raph, Mikey and Donnie...we all want you to stay with us"

She swallowed and he inched closer to her and reached out for her hands.

"You're family, Karai" he said giving her hands a squeeze. "So say yes"

"Why now?"

Leo smiled. "Because in a couple days we'll be back home and I want you there, and your dad, your real dad does too"

She glanced down at their hands. "Tell me you're okay"

He furrowed his brow. "What?"

"Tell me, right now, that you're okay" she repeated quietly.

"Karai, I'm more than okay. My leg is completely healed, I'm almost able to beat Raph again and we're going home. I'm okay"

Leo can't lie. He's horrible at it. So why does he sound so confident. Why does she feel like she could believe him if she hadn't seen under his wrappings. 

"Karai?"

"Yes" she said finally. "You know, unless we all die trying to reverse an alien invasion"

He sighed. "You sound so optimistic when you say it like that"

Down below April and Donnie were giggling.

"Are they throwing food into each other's mouths?" Leo asked.

Karai scrunched her face up. "I'm going to puke"

"That's never going to be us right?"

"Over my dead body"

They shuddered. "At least it's skittles and not a big plate of spaghetti" Leo mused. "Let's go down there and intervene, I can't keep watching this"

"Me either"

 

* * *

June 4th, 2014 | 10:15 am

* * *

She was dead to the world, they obviously had a very late start. Luckily, Donnie drove them all home last night since forty percent of his blood stream was caffeine. Still, going to bed at three in the morning wasn't a pleasant experience.

It wasn't that she didn't sleep well, she rejoined Leo on their tiny bed and he rolled over in the middle of the night and spooned her... she wasn't going to complain about that even if she was upset with him.

She coiled up in the grass and watched Leo stretch. "Today I'm taking you both down!".

Raph and Casey shared a glance. "We'll see about that" Raph said.

Then Casey leaned over and whispered something into Raph's ear and Raph nodded once.

She watched as Leo turned to face Raph and Casey. They began fighting and it was a strange fight, Casey wasn't a ninja, but he was fighter. Raph knew the most about his brother so he could almost predict what Leo was going to do.

Leo back flipped away and came down awkwardly. She expected Raph to take advantage of him being off balance.

Unexpectedly Leo screamed out in pain and grabbed his right knee. She heard a sickening pop noise as she dashed over.

"Leo!" Raph was at his side dropping his weapons to the ground.

"I'll get D!" Casey hollered as he ran off towards the barn.

Raph held Leo by the shoulders. "Come on, let's get ya to the steps at least" Raph said. Reluctantly Leo released his right hand from his right leg so he could be hauled up. "Easy easy" Raph said as they both made the long journey to the back steps. Karai picked up his katanas.

He grunted the whole way and didn't put any weight on his leg, Raph sat him on the steps. "I'm fine" he gritted out.

"Leo-"

"I said I'm fine!" he yelled. Raph backed off and scowled.

"Wha'ever man"

Leo looked away sadly and back to his right knee then back at Raph's retreating form and sighed. "I shouldn't have snapped like that... dammit"

With shaking hands he tried to remove his knee pad.

"Here" she started to undo it for him and he let her. "Just, we'll wait to see what Donnie says"

He pressed his hand on his exposed knee and sucked air through his teeth. "I'm never going to get better-"

The sound of large trees breaking puncture the air. Both her and Leo turned their heads towards the sound.

"Well that's just great" Leo yelled.

It was some sort of wrinkly dragon trying to land on some trees. Raph spun his sais and Karai unsheathed her short blade.

This was not the kind of distraction she had been yearning for a few days ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like my warnings sometimes are spoilers. I also feel like I talk to much in my author notes... So now for a really long author's note. As we get more serious with this relationship I think I have to address two things. One is the controversial content dilemma, and one is the idea of smut in this fic and where I stand.
> 
> Let's address the latter first since it is more cheerful. Smut is great, and there's this quote about kid's shows that goes something like "Why don't they establish relationships sooner? Well because you can only go so far before they fuck". That's the natural progression....but I have no interest in writing smut as part of this story. So no smut.
> 
>   **PLEASE DO NOT READ THE REST IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO MENTIONS OF RAPE, SELF-HARM AND SO ON.**
> 
> Okay so... controversial content dilemma.
> 
> A lot of this fic was originally an exercise in coping. It's why I started writing it and it's why even if it had zero kudos and only hate comments I would still be updating. It was never for you, it was for me, it's just really nice and sweet that so many people have left kudos and comments with support. You ever see that tag "Author writes to cope with their own trauma"? Well this fic really should have that tag because I was sexual molested as a toddler and raped as a child/pre-teen. I used to cut myself and hit myself (I'm better now, I found other ways to cope). I still have issues with sex and intimacy and this fic has been my weird fucked up version of therapy.
> 
> So I'm writing from experience in _some_ places. There are plenty of reasons why people hurt themselves, and in this case I am writing from my experience which was it felt good. And I felt good doing it. And I was happy when I was doing it, that didn't make it healthy or right and I'm gonna call out other self harm fics right now because suddenly finding your special someone doesn't make all your mental health issues disappear. 
> 
> I used to read a lot of "rape fics", I mean that was my coping. Reading about a character going through something horrible and then overcoming it was how I survived my high school existence. Some people think these types of fics shouldn't be allowed, that if you write about this stuff you are sick or demented or a pedophile. Those assumptions are really harmful, and I agree some "rape fics" glorify sexual violence, but that doesn't make them all like that. A lot of them are written by survivors.
> 
> These fics I was reading were extremely dark, and depressing, the whole story was the rape and their recovery. I had these things I was looking for in my version of a perfect "writing to cope" fic. I wanted it to be hopeful, I didn't want it to center around the characters trauma, I wanted all these boxes checked off...I never found one that hit all my boxes. I never found a self harm fic that hit all my boxes either. So I decided to take a crack at writing it, and just like the authors of these types of fics before me...I might not hit all of YOUR boxes.
> 
> I might not live up to what you think Karai the victim of rape should be going through. I might not live up to what you think Leo the self harmer should be going through. To which I say, go out their and hit your own boxes. Make those boxes your little bitches. Fuck Yeah. Don't do it for kudos or hits or comments or glory, do it for you. Do it for the high schooler who reads these things on their phone in the middle of the night when they can't sleep. Don't let anyone tell you what you can and cannot write.
> 
> This kind of got motivational towards the end, didn't see that one coming did you? 
> 
> Take care of yourself, don't read things that make you upset, put your own mental health first and if you read this horribly long author's note, thank you. And to all the people past, present and future who read these fics for whatever reason. I won't tell you it gets better, because I know sometimes that's the worst thing someone can say... but I will tell you that you get stronger.
> 
> [Here is a Motivational YT Video of a Man Harvesting Aslantic Clams While Shouting At You To Never Give Up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxGRhd_iWuE)


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